Fixation 25
by Mackiecam
Summary: Taking place just days after Threatening 24 (posted on this site), Stephanie balances her work for Vinnie with her work for Ranger. As she works out her own balance in a way that only Stephanie can, she deals with sexual harassment and obsessed skips, and a wide variety of zany fugitives. Through it all, she tries to find out - what is really going on with Ranger?
1. Chapter 1

_**Fixation Twenty-Five – A Stephanie Plum-Inspired Novel**_

**Chapter** **One**

"_We need to talk, Babe". _

Those were some of the last words Ranger spoke to me before he left for the week, and I was obsessing over them. At times I thought of them as a positive sign that he might be interested in getting more serious. At other times I thought they meant he was going to open up about his mysterious past. And at other times again, when I was feeling a little less optimistic, I thought of them as a death toll on any potential relationship I might have with him.

And fledgling relationship with him is what I had. I had known Ranger for some time, and over the years he has morphed from my mentor, into a good friend and periodic lover, into something a little more personal. I don't know how to define our relationship. We aren't girlfriend and boyfriend. I am not sure if Ranger could even become that committed. But I broke up with my long-time boyfriend partly because of Ranger. I am addicted to the way Ranger treats me, as if I was the most important person in the world.

Ranger, or Ricardo Carlos Manosa, is owner of Rangeman, a two-city, high-tech security company that specializes in providing a wide range of protection services to the elite in the Trenton and Miami areas. As my grandmother would say, Ranger is a tall sip of iced tea on a hot summer's day. He is second generation Cuban-American, has the complexion and dark brown hair and eyes to prove it, and is blessed with the self-discipline and dedication to make sure he exercises his mind and body frequently.

I am Stephanie Plum. Unlike Ranger's more tanned colouring, I have the skin colour, shoulder length brown curly hair, blue eyes and cute little nose of my Hungarian grandparents on my mother's side and the traditional upbringing of my Italian grandparents on my father's. Also unlike Ranger is my lack of self-discipline and non-existent dedication to exercise.

I am a bounty hunter, also known by the more official name of fugitive apprehension agent. I work for my cousin Vinnie at Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. A bond is a sort of guarantee. When someone is accused of a crime, they can either await their trial date in jail or can pay a bond, an insurance policy if you will, to the courts to ensure they show up for their trial. When they show up for their court date, they get the money back. If they don't show up, they are considered a wanted felon.

There are many accused who don't want to wait in jail but do not have the money to pay their bail. That is where the bonds office comes in. For the price of fifteen percent of the bond, the office will accept some collateral and will pay the bond for the accused. When the accused shows up for court, the office will return the collateral but will keep the fifteen percent.

If the accused does not show up for court, they are considered a wanted fugitive. The bonds office wants the money back for the bond so they can lend the money out to someone else. So they send out a bounty hunter – that's me – to pick up the felon and return them to court. For this I get ten percent of the bond value and the bonds office retains the remaining five percent. While this sounds like easy money, the ability to capture felons is not and income is solely related to how many felons skip out on bail. No felons skipping out on bail, no income for me.

A month ago I started working part time for Rangeman as a researcher. In this job I research companies and individuals for either the design of security systems, clients' ongoing security requirements, or to allow Sales to tailor their marketing to various potential clients. The job is as dry as dust, but it provides the income stability and benefits that my job with Vinnie lacks.

A week ago, Vinnie took out advertising to get more people to choose Vincent Plum as their bonding agent. This has resulted in a lot of cases for Vinnie to handle and he has overextended himself. He is consequently panicking and is manically texting me hourly to remind me that he needs all outstanding fugitives found yesterday.

"What you thinking about?" asked Lula. Lula is my friend and fellow Vincent Plum employee. A former 'ho with the wardrobe still reflecting her old profession, she has the attitude and physical attributes of a brown sumo wrestler. She is technically the file clerk but is terrible at her job. She spends most of the time instead chasing criminals with me. She is not much better at skip chasing and, since I am not that good at skip chasing either, I think we more resemble Lucy and Ethyl than we do Dog the Bounty Hunter. It's just as well. I would feel like an idiot acting like Dog, running around in black leather yelling "freeze".

We were on a stakeout of sorts. We were chasing Gavin Pilkin, a man arrested for vehicular manslaughter. He had been driving down the street with his girlfriend in a compromising sexual position. He got excited and, just as he was shooting off, he jerked his car into the oncoming traffic and hit another car. His girlfriend had not been wearing a seatbelt and died instantly when the airbag deployed into the back of her head.

We were sitting in my car just down the street from Pilkin's house, waiting for Pilkin to come home, eating our late lunch of McDonalds. I had a quarter pounder with cheese and, with a nod to the fact that my recent doughnut consumption had left my jeans too tight to button, I had a salad and a diet coke. Lula, who only wears overstretched spandex in a size two, had no such reservations. She was eating a ten-pack of nuggets, two Big Macs, large fries, a large coke and two apple pies. I looked at my salad with distaste and wished that salad tasted as good as fries.

"So what are you sighing about?" Lula prompted again.

"Just thinking about Ranger." I did not want to tell Lula about Ranger's desire to talk to me. If I did, she would want to know later on what we talked about. Ranger is a pretty private person and I wasn't sure the subject of Ranger's talk was something he wanted to share with the world at large.

"I would sigh, too, thinking about Ranger. That man is the hottest looking man I ever did see, and I saw a lot during all my years as a 'ho." I had to agree. Ranger was definitely fine looking. "So you are sure Morelli is out of the picture now?"

"Yeah." Morelli was my on-again, off-again boyfriend for the last few years. A Trenton plainclothes detective, he is more Italian than me. He is also incredibly good looking. But a month ago I shot someone in my line of work and he blew up at me. We broke up for what feels like the millionth time. I doubt we will get back together this time around though. Our argument highlighted some basic differences in our outlook. I don't like his job and he doesn't like mine any better, and neither of us are willing to change. While I am confident in my decision to not get back together with Morelli, he is regretting the fight and would love to hook up again.

"'Cause I heard this before about you and Morelli."

"I know. But it just feels different this time. It feels more permanent, more definite, less angry, less reactionary."

"Hunh", she grunted. Lula finished her meal, stuffed the wrappings in the paper bag, and tossed the paper bag into the back seat. As we watched, a woman driving a red Smart Car drove into the Pilkin's driveway. We waited until she got out of the car, making sure she wasn't the maid or something, and walked up the driveway to greet her as she was removing groceries. She luckily did not have many groceries as she did not have much car to carry them in.

"Hi, my name is Stephanie Plum and I am looking for Gavin Pilkin", I said.

"I am sorry, but he is at work right now."

"No, he isn't. I already checked there. They said he was fired two weeks ago."

"Fired? Not again! I wonder what he has been doing, day in and day out."

I looked at my file again. "Are you Marie?" I asked. Marie was Pilkin's sister.

"Yes, I am. Am I supposed to know you?"

"No. I represent Vincent Plum Bail Bonds office and he missed his court date. I am sure it was just an honest mistake – it happens all the time that felons forget their date – but we will need to take him into jail to get his date rescheduled."

"He missed his date? That means we could lose the house, doesn't it?" She was horrified. "He took the deed to the house without me knowing and handed that in as his collateral. He did not, however, tell the bonds office that the name on the deed is still our parents and that half of the house is technically mine. I was furious with him when I found out. He is not the most reliable person you could ever meet and I was afraid something like this would happen." She worried her lip between her teeth and said "I am not sure where to find him. Probably at one of his honeys, but I am not sure who they all are. He has so many and they change constantly."

"He has many honeys?" asked Lula, her ears perking up.

"Yes. My brother is very good looking and women fall at his feet. He has a charm that makes women accept a whole lot of crap from him. It is hard to say 'no' to him. My parents and I were some of the worst offenders. Now that I am older I can see past that charm."

"My day just got better", said Lula. "It would be nice to bring in a good looking skip for a change. Better than all those sorry-assed jerks we usually bring in."

"Doesn't make any difference to me", I said. "I don't care what they look like as long as I bring them in. I could use the money. I want to pay Ranger back for the bodywork he had done on my car." A week ago one of the people I was researching for Rangeman slashed my tires. Ranger had my tires replaced and, when my car was being fixed, he had bodywork done to remove all the rust. While the replacement of my tires was appreciated and in some ways justified, the bodywork was not. It goes against my need for independence. I went to the company accountant and got a copy of the bodywork bill, and am currently trying to earn enough money to pay the bill off without going into my line of credit.

"You can say that because you have two hot men interested in you. I don't have any. I appreciate a hot man any day of the week", said Lula.

"Just don't let him out of the cuffs when he bats his sexy little eyes at you", I warned.

"Would I do that?" asked Lula.

"Absolutely, you would." I handed my business card to Ms. Pilkin and asked her to call when she saw her brother. She said she would.

Lula and I headed back to the car. "It is three in the afternoon and I don't have it in me to do another stakeout today. My butt is sore from sitting for so long. I need to go and stretch out on the couch in the office, and perhaps try for more people tomorrow."

I knew Lula wanted to go and have a nap. I wouldn't let her sleep while we were on stakeout. She snores so loud the car rattles and little kids playing in the street start to cry. It is almost an instant headache when she sleeps on a stakeout.

"That's all right. I have some files at Rangeman to follow up on." I drove Lula back to the office, dropping her off at the door. I did not want to go in and have to deal with Vinnie. His panic at being overextended was not conducive to my good mental health.

* * *

I drove to the Rangeman offices, a seven-story office building on a quiet side street in the heart of Trenton. The office is located ten minutes from everything important in the city – the hospital, the police station and courthouse, the bonds office, and my apartment. The building has one floor of training facilities, three floors of staff residences, and three floors of office space. I work on the fifth floor and when I have needed a safe house, have stayed in Ranger's penthouse apartment.

I parked in the underground parking lot in one of Ranger's personal parking spaces. He has four spaces and three personal vehicles – a Porsche Turbo 911, a Porsche Cayenne, and a Toyota Tacoma truck. All are black, all are new, and all are in pristine condition. My car is also black and, thanks to Ranger's bodywork, looks to be in better condition that its ten-year age would imply. It, however, is not new and does not look like it belongs.

I took the elevator up to the fifth floor, exiting into the control room. This is the heart of the Rangeman security system. There is one person who continually monitors Rangeman vehicles, staff, buildings, and the police scanner. Another monitors all clients. Each person monitors using both video and audio feed. The Rangeman operation has grown so much, however, that over the next two weeks the monitoring stations are going to be doubled and my office will move from a nook off the control room to my own office with a door in the main office space of Operations. I was happy about the change. The dim lights and quiet atmosphere of the control room are perfectly conducive to sleep and I have been known to succumb from time to time.

I walked back to the break room and grabbed a coffee. Then, set for the afternoon, I headed back to my desk. I ran into Tank on the way. Built like his name suggests, Tank is 6'6" of pure muscle. He was a fellow Special Forces soldier with Ranger and has had Ranger's back ever since. He is second in command at Rangeman.

"You haven't been in the shooting range since before Ranger left, Steph", he said.

"I know. I hate guns."

"I could tell by the fact you weren't wearing yours again. Just because Ranger isn't here doesn't mean you don't have to wear your gun. You know it is a requirement when you work here."

Chastised, I looked down at my shoe. "I know. I just hate wearing it. It makes my stomach all squishy."

"Take a Pepto-Bismol. You need to wear it. Will you go down to the range by yourself, or do you need me to go down with you?"

"I will go down myself", I said dejectedly.

"Good. Just be glad you have that broken rib, or I would be after you to get into the gym again as well." A week ago, in a scuffle between me and someone I had researched, the guy kicked me and broke my rib. It was healing although it was still sore.

"I guess there is something good in everything!"

Tank smiled. My hatred of exercise was legendary. "Why are you back here today? I thought you were out skip chasing for the afternoon."

"We had finished chasing one skip and Lula wanted a nap. I didn't want to let her nap in the car. I didn't think I could put up with the snoring, so I took her back to the office to irritate the hell out of Vinnie." Vinnie was my weasel-like cousin who was the namesake of the bail bonds office. He was a substandard sexual deviant who, despite his personality flaws – or maybe because of them – was an excellent bonding agent.

"I hear you. I always had to sleep with earplugs in when I stayed at her house." Tank and Lula had been engaged for a brief period in a past life. They broke up when Tank adopted three cats and Lula was allergic to them.

I left Tank and headed back to my desk. I had six files from Sales to search. I put in the information for the first search and sipped my coffee.

After I had completed the files, I searched the files for the bonds office again. There was no new information there, but it never hurt to try. I headed down to the range and practiced shooting for half an hour and then, feeling very virtuous, I went up to the break room to see what was left for dinner. Helping myself to a bowl of baked bean casserole and an orange juice, I sat down at one of the tables to eat. Hal came in to get some food. "What are you still doing here?" he asked. I have known Hal for a while now. Nicknamed "Halosaurus" due to his enormous size and gentle disposition, he has periodically worked as my bodyguard in the past.

"Just getting caught up on work", I said. I didn't want to tell him that right now I didn't have anything to go home to, other than my hamster, Rex. That sounded pathetic even to my ears. "I'm going home as soon as I finish dinner. What about you? What are you doing here? I thought you worked the earlier shift today."

"I did. But after work I did an hour at the range, and a couple of hours in the gym, and then I visited with Jorge in his apartment for a while. I'm just grabbing some dinner before I head off to my place." He sat down with his own heaping bowl of baked bean casserole, an apple, a banana, a container of baby carrots and celery, and two buns with butter. I guess it takes a lot to feed a Halosaurus.

Finishing my dinner, I cleaned up my dishes and said goodbye to Hal, gathered my purse and took off my gun, and left the building for the night. I drove home on autopilot, thinking about Ranger again. With using his apartment as a safe house extensively over the last month and spending a lot of time with him while I stayed there, I missed him greatly. I had thought that something might be developing between us, but then he had to go away. I wondered again what Ranger had meant by his declaration that we needed to talk.

* * *

I live in a no-frills ancient apartment building just outside the Burg, the community in Trenton in which I grew up. I live on the second floor overlooking the parking lot. While the building is not fancy – we don't have a swimming pool or underground parking – it is serviceable and I like it. The residents are primarily seniors who, despite the frequency of vandalism, break-ins, and murdered people found in my apartment, seem to like me anyway. I am grateful they have not yet kicked me out of the building.

Out of habit, I looked up at my apartment and saw the lights were off. That was a good sign. It meant there was no felon waiting for me. It would not have been the first time I came home to find one of my skips sitting on my couch.

Entering the building, I said "hi" to Mrs. Bestler. She is as old as dirt and bored stiff. She likes to amuse herself by playing elevator operator. She said she likes pushing the buttons, and she gets to know all the residents that way. She reported no visitors. Good to know.

I walked down to my apartment and opened the door, listening for a few seconds before I entered. All I could hear was Rex, my attack hamster, running on his wheel. I entered and turned on the lights. Rex stopped running and stared at me, whiskers twitching, his beady little eyes full of excitement. I think he equated me coming home with food. Not wanting to disappoint him, I took a raisin out of the bag in the cupboard and put it in his dish. He ran over, stuffed it in his cheek, and scurried over to his soup can hidey hole to store for later.

I put my holster on the counter and my gun in my cookie jar. I had two guns. My own .38 Special that Ranger bought me when I first started in the business, and my Rangeman baby Glock. When I am at home I keep them in my cookie jar. In the absence of a gun cabinet, I figured this would be as good a hiding place as any. After all, who would suspect that something so lethal would live in something as heart-warming as a cookie jar?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

When I awoke the sun was shining and the birds were singing. The weather app on my phone predicted a warm day. I had a hot shower, blasted my hair with a hair dryer and put it up in a ponytail, and put on a couple of coats of mascara and some raspberry lip gloss. The good tasting kind. I put on one of Ranger's t-shirts that I scammed from his closet a week ago, yoga pants and running shoes, tied the shirt off with a hair elastic, and shoved my gun and phone into my purse. I was set for the day.

I left the apartment to meet up with Lula at the office. I beat her there and went in to talk to Connie Rosolli, the office manager. Mob-connected and a sharp shooter, Connie teethed on stories about her relatives' crimes. A couple of years older, a couple of pounds heavier, a couple of cup sizes larger and a couple of inches shorter than me, she is a typical Italian in every way. She is a good person to have on your side and with her connections she is a dangerous person to have against you. I felt lucky to say she always had my back and I count her as one of my closest friends.

"How are you doing?" I asked as I entered the office.

"Not bad. I have another file for you."

"Another one? What is Vinnie doing? Is he nuts?"

"Yes, he is. And Vinnie, I know you are recording this. You are definitely nuts to be overextending yourself like this." Vinnie is a bit paranoid and has the office bugged, and likes to listen to the tapes to find out what is going on. We know of the intrusion on our privacy, however, and say little to incriminate us. We are just glad he does not bug the washrooms. With his sexually deviant tastes, I would not put it past him to try. "Vinnie said if you don't clean up the files soon, he would call in Joyce Barnhardt to give you some help."

"Is Joyce doing him again?"

"Yes. She was in here yesterday with her crop and leather boots. She was wearing a trench coat, but my guess is that was all she was wearing."

"Yuck. He can't give the files to her. She has an even worse capture rate than Lula and I."

"You and Lula do okay. You have a ninety percent capture rate. It's just that sometimes you are a bit slow. However, the only person Joyce ever caught was facilitated by you." It's true. A few years ago Ranger's daughter Julie and I were kidnapped. The kidnapper put a bomb on me and took me out to pick up a skip. Joyce had the skip under surveillance and was not happy that I was trying to capture him. She tried to steal the capture. The skip jumped in his car and drove away at the same time as I stripped off the bomb and threw it in the road. The skip drove over the bomb, which went off with enough force to stop the car. Joyce ran up and captured him while the skip was incapacitated.

"Yeah, that was a high bond, too. It sucked that she got the money for it."

"Well, you had better speed up in getting these skips. Vinnie is having a freak-out over all the outstanding bonds. Harry is making noises saying he isn't happy." Harry the Hammer is Vinnie's father-in-law and the owner of the bonds office. Formerly a member of the mob, Harry's specialty was interrogation and torture. Connie said he was the best in the business.

Lula came into the office only twenty minutes late, which for her is ten minutes early. She was carrying a box of doughnuts.

"Are you still off doughnuts?" asked Lula.

"Yes. I tried on my jeans this morning again and I still can't do up the button. I am off doughnuts until I can."

"I am never sure. You are the worst stress eater I ever did meet, and all your man problems have made you gain weight. I was beginning to think you were trying to become a big, beautiful woman like me."

"It wasn't the man problems that were causing the weight gain. It was the shooting of Pete Brodie that did it." Pete Brodie was a skip who took to threatening me. In self-defence, I ended up shooting him in my apartment. I don't like guns to start off with, but the emotional fallout from killing someone has been devastating. Hence the weight gain and the fact that I can no longer do up my jeans. "Besides, I no longer have man problems. I got rid of one and the other one is out of town."

"Then you are just lonely, girl. You aren't getting any. That means that you have to have a doughnut." She held the box out to me.

"No! No doughnuts!" I could feel myself weakening – a bakery lard and sugar fix right now would be good – but, just when I was about to give in, Lula snatched the box back.

"That's good. More for me!" Lula offered the box to Connie, who took two and put them on a napkin on her desk. Lula picked up the box and a to-go cup of coffee and stated that she was ready to go.

"We have to capture some skips today. Vinnie is threatening to give my files to Joyce Barnhardt."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised. He was shittin' himself yesterday in the office, and then Joyce came in wearing her dominatrix outfit. I heard her spanking him in his office, saying he was a very bad boy. She dresses like a professional 'ho. She acts like one, too, exceptin' for the fact that she doesn't get paid."

I had to agree, although I thought comparing Joyce to a hooker was an insult to hookers everywhere. Joyce and I have a long history, starting in kindergarten when she put worms in my lunch bag and told everyone I ate them, through to when she had sex with my new husband of three months on my new dining room table in my new home. It turned out she did me a favour both times. The kindergarten incident resulted in me meeting and becoming friends with Mary Lou, a friend I still have to this day, and the affair with Dickie Orr showed me what a prick my husband was and lead to the shortest marriage in Burg history. Even so, I hate the woman.

"Who are we going after first?" asked Lula.

"I thought we should pull in some of the high value bonds. It will be good for Vinnie's blood pressure. This first file is of an eighteen-year old male, Guido Berginni, who has been charged with attempted murder. He was the go-to person in the school for drugs. He apparently liked a girl in his class at school but she unfortunately was going out with someone else. So he decided to remove the competition by spiking some drugs with poison and giving them to the romantic rival. The rival became sick but was not permanently harmed. Berginni was charged with attempted murder and his mother posted bail. When he was released on bail the girl was still not interested in him so he sent her some roses soaked in poison. She got the poison on her hands and collapsed shortly after arranging the flowers in a vase. Her parents got her to the hospital in time and again there was no permanent damage. He was again arrested but released on an extremely high bail. His mother put up the money again. This one is the money shot, Lula. If we can bring this one in, Vinnie's cash flow problems will be eased."

"Let's do it!"

We drove to Berginni's house. Located in the Burg, it was a tidy single-detached house on a quiet street. We parked two houses down the street and sat for a minute assessing the neighbourhood. Everything was quiet. Most people were at work and those who weren't were inside cleaning their houses and looking after young children. I phoned the number for the house. An older woman answered the phone. I asked to speak to Guido and, when she went to get him, I hung up. "He's there", I said.

We got out of the car and got ready to go in. I did not want to take the chance of messing this one up. I got out my cuffs and tucked them in my back waistband. I put on my hoody and shook my pepper spray to activate it. I put my pepper spray in my pocket. I got my stun gun and checked to make sure it was charged up. I was ready to go.

Lula took out her gun and tucked it in the back of her waist. "No guns!" I said. "We should be able to do this capture without guns. He is there with his mother."

"You always have all the rules. No guns here and no guns there. You have been even worse since you shot Brodie. They don't always go peaceably, you know."

"I know." What I didn't want to say is that although Lula had a lot of confidence in shooting, she was such a terrible shot she couldn't hit a barn door if she tried. I have the opposite problem. While my aim is better than Lula's, I have no confidence and would be happiest if I never saw a gun again in my life.

We walked up to the front door of the house and rang the doorbell. A woman came to the door. "Hello, my name is Stephanie Plum, this is Lula, and we represent Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. You are Mrs. Berginni?"

"Yes, I am."

"Your son, Guido, was due in court a week ago. He missed his court date. We have come to take him in to reschedule."

"Oh, dear. I will get him now and will take him in to court right away."

"No, it doesn't work that way. We have to take him in. That is part of the stipulations on the agreement you signed with Vincent Plum. "

"Can I come with him?"

"Yes, you may." I looked at Lula. This is the first time someone has wanted to go with our skip. Usually people were quite happy to distance themselves from the felons.

Mrs. Berginni called Guido down from his room. He stumbled down the stairs, his tousled hair and rumpled pyjamas testament to the fact that he had just woken up. "Yeah, Mom?" he asked. He looked through the open door and saw Lula and me. His face lit up.

"This is Stephanie Plum and Lula. You missed your court date and they have come to take you back to the precinct to reschedule."

"It will be worth going back to the precinct to be escorted by these two lovely ladies. I just need to change and brush my teeth."

"I will wait outside your room while you do so", I said.

"Sure", he said, looking awfully excited for someone going back to the station to await bonding for two accounts of attempted murder. I followed him up to his room and waited outside his door, listening to the sounds of him moving around in his room. I followed him to the bathroom and waited outside the door while he used the facilities and brushed his teeth. Then, taking out my cuffs, I explained that it was procedure to take felons into jail restrained. He held his hands cooperatively behind his back.

Mrs. Berginni seemed more upset to have her son in cuffs than he did. Making squawking noises, she protested her son's treatment all the way down the stairs and out to the car. I apologized and explained that it was policy and that it was part in parcel with skipping bail.

I put Mrs. Berginni in the front seat, and Lula in the backseat with Guido. Driving back to the bonds office to drop Lula off, I felt eyes on the back of my head. Every time I looked in the rear view mirror I saw Guido smiling at me. It gave me the creeps.

"What will bail be set for this time?" asked Mrs. Berginni.

"I don't know. It will partly depend upon the judge", I answered. I dropped Lula off at the office and drove to the precinct. Driving to the drop-off area, I transferred Guido - and his mother - over to the cops.

As I picked up my body receipt, Guido sang out "goodbye Stephanie. I hope to see you soon!" A shiver ran down my back and I tried to walk nonchalantly out of the station. But the truth is, I was freaked. Guido's capture was too easy. I am used to having to wrestle my skips to the ground, often literally. Skips just don't volunteer to go into the station with you. However nice as it was, it wasn't natural.

Shaking off my bad feeling, I went back to the bonds office to pick up Lula and drop off my body receipt. "That's the way to get it done!" said Lula as she gave me a high-five when I walked in the office. "Our luck is changing. I can just feel it."

"Steph, is that you?" yelled Vinnie. He stuck his head out of his office like a groundhog trying to see if it could see its own shadow.

"We got Berginni, Vinnie. I wouldn't be surprised if his mother bails him out again, so be prepared for the call."

"If you got Berginni, then why are you back here? I am hanging in the wind. I'm not making any money. Harry is going to kill me. These skips will be the death of me. Go out and find the rest of those fuckers."

I waited while Connie finished filling out my cheque. "Yeah, yeah, we'll get them, Vinnie. We're working on it."

"You'd better. I'm hanging out there with my pants down right now."

"I'm surprised you don't like that feeling then", said Lula. "I always envisioned you as an exhibitionist."

"No, I don't do that shit", said Vinnie. "Everything else, maybe, but not the exhibitionist shit." And it's true. Vinnie has done the whole shebang from animals to orgies and everything in-between, but I never heard any stories about him being an exhibitionist. Personally, I suspect it is because he has a small wanger and doesn't want to advertise the fact.

I stuffed my cheque in my pocket and asked Lula if she was ready.

"Oh yeah, anything to get away from Mister Drama", she said.

"Can I come, too?" asked Connie.

"I wish. We would be like the female version of the three stooges. I would be Curly. See you later" I said as we left.

* * *

"Speaking about exhibitionists, let's go after the eighty-year old exhibitionist from North Trenton." I directed the car towards the eighty-year old's retirement home. "What does it say about him again?"

Lula pulled out his file. "It says he was wearing nothing more than a pair of red heels. He ran down the street, away from the old folks' home, yelling 'I'm free'. He said he was entitled to since his name is Willy Fish."

I always hate taking in old people. It makes me feel terrible. However, a skip is a skip, and I didn't have any choice. Vinnie would give my files to Joyce if I wasn't careful. "I thought the 'Free Willy' movie was about a whale."

"Maybe he's really big and that is why he is so happy to show it off." Ugh. That was a thought I really didn't want to think about.

I parked in the lot at the retirement home. I left my cuffs, stun gun and pepper spray in my purse. You can't use a stun gun or pepper spray on an old person anyway. Many people in the retirement home would have heart and breathing issues. Usage of these takedown aids could lead to lasting health issues or even death. I didn't want to have to use my cuffs either. As I said, I feel icky enough having to bring in an old person. Putting them in cuffs to bring into the station goes outside my personal comfort level.

Lula and I walked up to the front desk and were directed to a common area outside the dining hall. We walked into a throng of thirty seniors, all milling around waiting for the dining hall doors to open for lunch.

I stood at the doorway and noticed Willy sitting on the bench next to the door of the hall. I walked up to him, Lula trailing behind. "Willy Fish?"

"Yes?"

"My name is Stephanie Plum and I represent your bonding agent. You missed your court date. I am sure it was just an honest mistake, but you need to reschedule your date. Lula and I have come to take you to the courts to reschedule."

"I can't go right now. Lunch is in half an hour, and I am always first into the dining hall. People count on me being first. Besides, we are having hot roast beef sandwiches today. I can't miss that. And I didn't forget my date. I just don't have much time left before I die and I don't want to spend whatever time I have left in jail."

"I doubt you would have to go to jail. Maybe just some community time. And if you come with us right now, I will do a drive-through at Cluck-in-a-Bucket and buy you lunch."

He looked at Lula. "Will she come with us?"

"Yes, Lula will come with us as far as the bonds office. We will then leave her there. You will have me all to yourself while I drive you the rest of the way into the precinct."

He looked at Lula and assessed her. "You look like a hooker. I can say that because I am old, and one of the benefits of getting old is that you can say whatever you want."

"I look like a hooker because I used to be a 'ho."

"Really? If you tell me about it, I will come to lunch with you." We went to the front desk and signed Willy out. According to plan, I did not cuff Willy but I did make sure the car child locks were engaged on the car. I didn't want him doing the "Free Willy" thing again as he ran away from my car at a red light.

I drove to Cluck-in-a-Bucket. Lula ordered a bucket of extra crispy, a large fries, a tub of coleslaw and a tub of macaroni salad with a diet coke. Willy ordered the Clucky burger combo with a coke. The only thing I ordered for myself was an orange juice. My jeans still didn't fit.

Following lunch, I dropped Lula off at the office. "I am curious, Mr. Fish. Why did you run down the street bare naked except for a pair of heels?"

"Have you ever embraced danger? Done something you didn't want to do? It makes you feel so free. Your heart is pumping, your stomach is uneasy, adrenaline is coursing through your veins, you feel alive. I felt more alive when I ran down the street than I have in years. I don't regret it. You won't understand this now, but when you get to my age life is boring. It is the same thing, day in and day out. Even the meals at the retirement home are scheduled. Every Tuesday we have meatloaf for dinner. On Wednesdays we have roast chicken. Every week. There is nothing to do. Having you and the luscious Lula pick me up will make me the talk of the retirement home for the next month. It was something different, a break to my routine. I don't expect you to understand."

I understood. My whole life was a break in routine, and I liked it that way.

"If I fail to appear for my next court date, can you and the lovely Lula come back to pick me up?"

"Yes, we will."

"Good. Then I will eke this out as many times as I can. Spending time with you and Lula is worth any fifteen percent that I can pay."

We arrived at the police station. I walked Willy into the drop-off area and apologized as I secured him to the bench, then waited for the officer on duty to fill out my paperwork. As I waited, I heard Guido's high voice yelling "Stephanie! You came back to see me! I love you, Stephanie." I didn't pay any attention to him, got my paperwork, and started to walk away. "Stephanie, you know we are supposed to be together. I knew as soon as I saw you that you were the one for me. You feel it, too. I know you do. You just cannot tell me. I will come for you. You and I are meant to be together." I felt a shiver run down my spine as I left.

As I was walking across the parking lot to my car, Morelli ran up behind me. "Hey, Cupcake, I heard you have an admirer."

"The docket lieutenant called you?" At Morelli's nod, I said "one of the skips I brought in this morning seems to have developed a crush on me. He came willingly and calmly, unusual since he is in on a high bond. I thought it was because his mother insisted that she come with him. However, I am now wondering whether it is because he wanted to impress me. I have a bad feeling about this one."

"So did the duty officer. What is he in for?"

"Two counts of attempted murder. The first was for a rival boyfriend. The second was for the girl he liked. In both cases he tried to murder them through poisoning."

"I will have a talk with him."

"I am hoping if we ignore him long enough he will go away."

"Ignoring the problem doesn't always work. I will track this one through the system and will let you know what happens with the bail hearing."

"Thank you." I reached up and kissed him on his cheek.

"I haven't had lunch yet. Do you want to join me at Pino's in about fifteen minutes?"

"Sure." I got in my car and headed off to Pino's. The restaurant was a favourite Italian eatery populated by cops and hospital staff. It makes the best pizza in Trenton and the rest of their food isn't bad either. We were later than the majority of the lunchtime crowd and finding a booth was easy. I ordered a diet coke for myself and a coke for Morelli as I waited. I didn't need to look at the menu. Morelli and I had memorized the menu many years ago.

I did not have to wait long. Morelli arrived five minutes after I did and came over to the booth, giving me a kiss before he sat down. The server came over immediately to take our orders. Morelli ordered a meatball sub and fries; I ordered a Greek salad with extra olives and feta. "I spoke to your Romeo. I made it known you had a boyfriend and were not interested in his affections."

"Which boyfriend is this?" I asked.

"Make one up. Could be me, could be Ranger, could be someone new. As of now, though, you have a boyfriend and cannot return his affections."

"Gotcha. Thanks."

"How are you doing? I haven't seen you in a few days."

"Good, I guess. I am working on cleaning up Vinnie's list. He is overextended again and is on the warpath. He said he will bring Joyce in to clean up the list if I don't get it under control soon." Both Morelli and I grimaced as I mentioned Joyce. "How about you?"

"Murder, mayhem, nothing new. I have one murder case on my desk right now. A young drug dealer in the projects looks like he was caught in a gang turf war. Keeping busy."

"How is Bob?" Bob is Morelli's dog, an orange, shaggy beast that is supposed to be a golden retriever. He is as dumb as a doorknob but is highly affectionate and I love him very much.

"Bob is good. He only ate two shoes and three pillows last week, so he is doing well. He misses you. So do I."

"I miss your company too, as well as Bob's." As he started to look hopeful, I said "that doesn't mean I want to get back together with you. I just miss your friendship."

"Do you want to come over for dinner some time?"

"I think it is too soon to do something like that. Thank you for the offer though." Our meals arrived and I started eating my Greek salad.

"This is something new – salad. You normally get a meatball sandwich or pizza."

"I know. But after we broke up, I ate so much of everything I can no longer fit into my jeans. It is getting serious. So I am trying to be more careful. I don't have the money to buy a whole new wardrobe. You would be proud of me. I even turned down Cluck-in-a-Bucket for lunch today. Instead, I went through the drive-through for Lula and the skip that I was taking in."

"You bought lunch for your skip?" Morelli started to laugh. "And you wonder why I call you Cupcake?"

"He was a very sweet old man who was missing his lunch in the retirement home. It made me feel less guilty for taking him into the station. You know how I hate taking the seniors in."

"What was he wanted for?"

"Exhibitionism. He said running down the street in nothing but heels made him feel alive in a way he hadn't felt in a very long time."

"That's odd - it would make me feel embarrassed to be alive. What are his plans?"

"He plans on getting out on bail again, then waiting until Lula and I come to pick him up. I think he liked going out for lunch and he said he will be the talk of the retirement home. I suspect next time he wants to introduce us around to all his cronies. He plans on this cycle of avoiding court, getting picked up by Lula and myself, and avoiding court again. He said he wants to do this for as long as he is financially and physically able. Suits me fine. For the price of a meal he is an easy skip to bring in."

"I guess it is good to have a plan." Morelli laughed. "Is that what I have to do to talk with you? Run down the street naked wearing heels?"

"No. All you have to do is call me."

"You are answering my calls again?"

"Are we having relationship conversations?"

"No."

"Then I'm answering your calls again."

"How is Ranger?"

"I don't know. He's out of town."

"What does he do when he is out of town?" he asked.

"I don't know. Maybe cavort with his many women?" I answered flippantly.

"I can't see you being content not knowing. Your curiosity is limitless."

"I am curious. But since we aren't together, I don't have the right to know."

"You really aren't with Ranger?"

"No. He is my boss and my friend. I have spent time with him, but I am not with him." I didn't tell Morelli that after a long period of indecision I had finally come to the conclusion that I would like to be with Ranger. Morelli was already jealous enough. Besides, I did not know whether Ranger felt the same way about me.

"I thought for sure Ranger would move in as soon as I was out of the picture. I know how he looks at you."

"Nope. As I said, all we have done is spend time together."

"That makes me feel better."

And I knew it did. I didn't want to be with Morelli any longer – although I love and respect him, I don't feel he respects me in the same way. But I know I would not be happy to find out he had jumped into someone else's bed either. And I was the one that initiated the break. It must be harder for him.

Lunch finished, I threw some money down on the table. "I have to pick up Lula and go capture some more skips", I said. "We have to clean up Vinnie's list before he has a coronary." I got up, leaned over, and kissed Morelli's cheek. "Thanks for having lunch with me."

"Any time. And Cupcake, if you have any problems with that skip, Guido Berginni, let me know. I would like to help."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

I handed my body receipt to Connie, then sorted through my files. "How about this one?" I asked Lula. "This lady, Tanesha Browne, stole ten packs of bacon. When her purse was full of packages of bacon, she stuffed them down her pants."

"Wow. I can understand the need for bacon, but really? Would you still want to eat bacon after it had been stored next to your privates?" asked Lula.

"It puts new meaning to the term 'bacon bits'", I agreed.

* * *

Tanesha Browne lived in the projects, a downtrodden area of Trenton filled with cheap housing and rundown families. I checked the file. Tanesha did not have any children and lived with her boyfriend. I was glad. I did not have to worry about taking a skip away from her kids. When I am picking up parents I try to do so early in the morning when the kids have first left for the day. That way the parent has the chance of returning in time for the children to get home from school.

Lula and I parked in the street right in front of the townhouse. I normally like to park a few houses down the street from the skip, but in this case I wanted to make sure my car was there when I returned with Tanesha. We got out of the car, me putting my pepper spray in my pocket out of habit, Lula pulling out her gun. "No guns!" I said. "This is a petty theft charge where Tanesha will likely only get community service. This does not warrant the use of a gun."

Grumbling, Lula put her gun away. In appeasement, I offered her my stun gun. Still muttering under her breath, she put the stun gun in her pocket and followed me to the front door. We could hear music pumping through the house as I rang the doorbell and stood to the side. Lula stood to the other side of the door. There was no answer. Lula walked into the small front yard and looked in the windows. I rang the doorbell again. There was no answer. I took out my phone and dialled Tanesha's number. As the phone rang I could hear the music being turned down. I hung up the phone and rang the doorbell again. Lula came back to join me as I heard footsteps coming to the door.

Tanesha answered the door, holding her phone in her hand. She was very pregnant, wearing stretched out sweat pants and an oversized, stained t-shirt. "Can I help you?" she asked.

I went through my spiel, introducing Lula and myself and explaining why we were there. "I am sure that you just forgot your date, but now we have to take you in to reschedule and get a new court date."

"You are taking me now? I don't have any shoes I can wear. That's why I missed the date in the first place." I looked down at her feet. They were noticeably swollen.

"Can you just put on your shoes and leave the laces undone?" I asked.

"I can't reach my feet", she said.

"This is ridiculous", Lula mumbled to herself. "First I'm not allowed to use a gun, and now we have a skip who can't put on shoes." She stalked to the front clothes closet and flung open the doors. She took out a pair of women's running shoes and stomped back to us. She knelt down on the ground in front of Tanesha and tried to pry the shoes onto Tanesha's feet. It did not matter what Lula did, however, those shoes were not fitting on her feet. Lula stomped back to the closet and looked for a pair of flip flops or open sandals. She could not find anything suitable. Finally, she pulled an old pair of men's running shoes from the back of the closet and brought them over.

"I couldn't possibly wear those. They're Gerard's", Tanesha said.

"It's either those or we take you in barefoot", I replied. Lula knelt down in front of Tanesha again, and with minimal swearing was able to wedge her feet into the shoes. Finally ready, Tanesha got her purse and keys, and opened the door to go to our car. Only, there was no car. My car had walked off in the ten minutes we were in the house.

"Well, you've had a good run this time. It has been at least six weeks since you had to call Rangeman to trace your car."

"But one of those weeks my car was getting bodywork done on it. So it really has been only five weeks." I got out my phone and called the control room. "Hi, Hal. My car has been stolen – again."

"I see it on the screen. Do you want me to send some patrol guys over to pick it up?" I have a GPS tracker in my car. Ranger puts it there for my own safety – all his fleet and personal cars also have trackers. I, however, find it useful in my many car emergencies. It lets the control room know where my car is at all times and, if my car has been blown up, set on fire, or otherwise incapacitated, the lack of signal lets the control room know something is wrong.

"Yes, please. And I have a skip here waiting to go to the courthouse."

"Jorge and Raphael are on patrol. I will send them over with your car as soon as they pick it up. They should be there within the half hour."

"Thank you." I didn't have to ask him if he knew where I was. Ranger always seems to make sure that I have a similar tracking device on me. In the past I tried to get rid of them, but kept finding them again in jacket pockets, my purse, even once in the bottom of my shoe. I finally gave up. Ranger and I have agreed that he will not continually try to bait me, and I will stop trying to get rid of the devices. Like the tracking devices on the cars, I have also found these devices to be helpful in the past and cannot complain too loudly about them.

"We are going to be here for another half hour", I said.

"Thank God", Tanesha said. "Can I take these shoes off now?"

"NO!" yelled Lula and I at the same time. We went over to her broken-down couch and sat, looking out the front window.

"I have to know", I said. "Why did you steal so much bacon?"

"I can tell you have never been pregnant. Sometimes you just get cravings, you know? I had a craving for bacon, lots and lots of bacon. But I had already spent the grocery money for the week satisfying my craving for ice cream and I was so desperate for bacon. I needed that bacon. Mmmm…bacon. I could really go for some bacon right now." She got up and shuffled towards the kitchen. I followed behind her. She looked in the fridge. "I don't have any bacon left." A tear trailed down her face.

"I'm sure you can get more bacon once you make bail again", I said.

"No, you don't understand. I need bacon _now_."

"I could use some bacon as well", said Lula from her lookout at the front window.

"I will tell you what. I will go through the drive through at Barry's Burgers. They are having their baconator special on right now. I will buy you a bacon cheeseburger each. You can eat the whole thing or just pick off the bacon. And then I will take you to the courthouse, all right?"

The tears fell harder. "Thank you. You probably think I am nuts. Gerard thinks I am. But I need bacon so badly right now. I could eat my fill of just bacon, all day, every day, and still want to eat more. Gerard says I'm not having a baby. I'm having a little piggy."

"No problem on the baconators. I haven't been pregnant but I remember when my sister was. All she wanted to eat was gravy. She drank it plain from the gravy boat and put it on everything, even ice cream. She had a normal, healthy little girl, no piggy for her. How much longer do you have to go until the delivery?"

"I am six months along."

Privately I thought the bacon was doing nasty things to her body. She was as big as a house and I thought that she looked closer to ten or twelve months. "You have many more weeks to enjoy eating bacon then", I said.

Lula called out that the Rangeman patrol staff were there. I walked outside and thanked Jorge and Raphael while Lula and Tanesha locked up the house. "You aren't putting cuffs on her?" asked a surprised Raphael.

"No. She needs them off to be able to eat the baconator that I am buying her on the way to the courthouse. What did you have to do to get my car back?"

"It was beautiful, Steph. Raphael just walked on the property, got in the car, and stole it back for you. It hadn't even made it into the chop shop yet."

I opened the door for Tanesha. She could not get her seatbelt on.

"Guys, do you want baconators as well? I am getting one for Tanesha and Lula, and I will buy one for each of you as well if you want."

"Thanks, but Ranger would kill us. He thinks bacon is the devil's food."

"Ranger thinks everything good is the devil's food", said Lula. "He don't like no chocolate, and don't get me started about doughnuts. All he eats are vegetables."

"He eats more than vegetables", I said. "He has grains and meats and dairy as well. He just doesn't have a lot of extras."

"Are we going soon for the baconators? I REALLY have a craving for bacon", said Tanesha from the backseat.

"Thanks again guys. I'll see you around." I got in the car and drove to Barry's Burgers, a small-time burger shop close to the precinct. Then, once I had driven through the drive-through, I drove to the police station. I left one burger with Lula and gave the bag containing the other burger to Tanesha. Then I walked her across the parking lot and into the docking area. I sat her on the bench, apologizing to her when I had to cuff one hand to the bench. I left the burger with her and retrieved my paperwork from the officer on duty. Then I returned to the car. I was in and out as fast as I could be.

Lula is allergic to police stations. She is allergic to all things related to police actually, largely as a result of years as a 'ho and a childhood with a drug addicted mother. I counted myself lucky to find the car still in the parking lot. It would not have been the first time that Lula had hotwired my car and had driven back to the bonds office.

* * *

Lula and I took in the body receipt. When I handed it to Connie, I heard Vinnie yell from his office. "Steph, is that you?" I said yes. "You aren't responding to my texts any more. What are you trying to do? Give me an ulcer? I am bleeding out here, and you aren't even responding to my texts. After all I have done for you. I gave you a job when you most needed it. I have taught you everything you know. And now you aren't responding to my texts?"

"Vinnie, I am not responding because you are texting me hourly. You are even texting me in the middle of the night, and you texted me three times while I was in the bathroom this morning. And how many times do you think I need to read 'Why aren't you out getting skips? Go get those fuckers.' As far as my job, it was Ranger that taught me everything I know and you only gave me the job because I blackmailed you into it." And it was true. I was desperate for a job and Vinnie didn't want to give me one. He said it was too dangerous. But since I had been out of work for a while, it was either catching skips or living with my parents again. Living in a house with three other people and only one bathroom was a danger of another kind. Using some information I had about Vinnie's illicit sex life, I blackmailed him into the job. He has allowed me to bumble along ever since.

"So what are you doing here? Why aren't you out collecting skips?"

"I am bringing in a body receipt. Lula and I caught three skips today. You should be happy. Lula and I will go out again tomorrow and try to catch more."

"You are creating repeat business. Two of the three skips you caught have said they would only use us as a bonding agent if we could send you and Lula after them again the next time", said Connie.

"Mr. Fish was a sweetheart. He said that having Lula and me pick him up made his day. He was fascinated by Lula's stories about being a 'ho. He said next time he will introduce us to his friends at the retirement home. I think the other skip, Guido Berginni, isn't as benign. He gives me the creeps."

"Creeps or not, he has been bonded out again. He is only eighteen. How bad can he be?" said Vinnie.

"He is wanted for two counts of attempted murder. I say he can be pretty bad."

"You have Morelli protecting you. You will be okay."

"I guess you didn't get the memo. Morelli and I broke up about a week ago."

"You will get back together. You always do. You have gotten back together several times, starting when you were mad at him for writing nice things about you all over the bathroom walls around town. You became many a guy's wet dream based on what he said."

"I was sixteen. I don't know if I would be so forgiving now. And being every boy's dream created problems. I had guys I hadn't even met asking me out and promising me a good time."

"You weren't so forgiving then, either. You hit him – accidently, on purpose – with your car a couple of years later. You always eventually forgive him. You and Morelli are a match made in heaven. Instead of Steph and Morelli, together you are Meph."

Personally I thought it sounded like a drug you cook in a lab, but what do I know? "No, this time I am pretty sure we are not getting back together", I said to Vinnie.

"You just keep saying that and maybe I will begin to believe you. Unless you are banging Ranger? He would chase away any thoughts of Morelli. Is Ranger any good in bed?"

"Vinnie! That's disgusting. Why would I talk to you about this?"

"Because I am your cousin?"

"Not a good enough reason."

"I know, but I thought I would try. I like to live vicariously through the sex lives of other people."

"You don't live vicariously. You have quite an active sex life of your own, and that is in addition to the sexual relationship you have with your wife – and your dog."

"For your information, I am always interested in a good sex story. Don't you always wonder what a person is like in bed when you meet them? When you are talking to them?"

"Eeww. No."

"Really? I thought everyone did. Everyone at my Sexaholics Anonymous group does. Same with my Sex Addicts Anonymous group."

"You belong to two groups now?"

"Yeah, one wasn't doing it for me. Besides, there is no better place to meet sexual partners than a sex group. At least half the people who attend are just going so they can meet people to hook up with."

"Okay, then. I have nothing to say to that. Do you?" I asked Lula.

"Nope, nothing."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

After leaving the bonds office staff, I headed off to the Rangeman facility. I parked in the underground, went to my desk on the fifth floor, took out my gun and holster, and dropped my purse in a drawer. I put my gun on and, now dressed for the day, went to get a coffee and a snack. Eating salad for lunch sure makes a girl hungry.

I came back to my desk with a ham and Swiss on a Kaiser in one hand and my hot coffee in the other. I put the food down, turned on the computer, and despite the late hour in the afternoon, I started work for the day. I had a multi-step research project for a client in Operations to do, and five research requests for Sales. I inputted the information for the Operations client and drank my coffee and ate my sandwich while I waited for the computer to spit out its information. Once my sandwich was finished, I took my phone out and cued up my Songza app, the application which streams music into my phone. I selected upbeat workout music and hit play. I find the music necessary to ensuring the boredom of the job doesn't put me to sleep.

I drank the rest of my coffee and took the first report off the printer. I started to read it, highlighting various concerns that stuck out for me.

Midway through reading the final pages of the report, a person I had never met came down to my office and put three new files on my desk. He was exceedingly tall, well built, blond and blue-eyed. He was good looking in a Ken-doll sort of way, and you could tell he knew of the impact of his looks. "Hello, my name is Stephanie", I said.

"You are the research guru! It is nice to meet you. I am Adam. Thank you for doing the research on all my files. Your assistance has landed us several important new clients."

"That's good. I am glad to finally meet you as well. I was going to come and introduce myself, but I have been working odd hours lately and they are not the same hours the Sales department keeps."

"I can tell you have been working odd hours lately. Every time I send you a file as I am leaving at the end of the day, you have it completed before I get in the next morning. All of us in Sales were beginning to think a group of little research fairies were coming in during the night to get all the work done."

"Nope. Just me. I work two jobs and, since Ranger gives me flex hours, I work this job around my other one."

"What is your other job?"

"I am a bounty hunter."

"That is so cool! I bet you have some fascinating stories. I would love to hear them over dinner some time."

"Thank you for the offer. I hate to burst your bubble, but the stories are not fascinating and, perhaps more importantly, I am not interested in having dinner. Thank you anyway."

"Are you seeing someone, then?"

"Yes, I am sort of seeing someone."

"Then forget I mentioned it. But if you ever sort of break up with the guy, let me know and the offer of dinner still stands."

"Thanks. I will keep that in mind."

"Okay, then. I had to try."

"I love your confidence. I have to get back to work."

"I'll see you around. I will personally bring down all the Sales files from now on and hope I catch you at your desk."

I wished him a good evening and finished the research for Operations. I pushed the files aside to put under Tank's door before I left, then worked on the files for Sales. By the time I was finished it was well into the nighttime hours and I was ready to go home to bed.

* * *

I hauled myself out of bed the next morning and stood stupefied under the spray of the shower, weighing the appeal of going back to bed versus getting paid. By the time the hot water had run out, I determined getting paid was the better option to take. I had that outstanding bodywork bill to pay off and my rent was due. As I drank my coffee, I looked over the remaining outstanding skips.

There was Gavin Pilkin still outstanding. I determined that Lula and I would try to capture the unfortunate blow job boy first, before he had the chance to leave his house for the day.

One of the other outstanding files was a charge for impersonating a police officer. This was not Tony Testler's first time getting caught dressing up as a cop and pulling cars over for speeding. He had a good deal going on. He offered to let the speeders pay the ticket on the spot for a lesser fee or he gave them the option of paying the fee directly to the police department in which case they would have to pay a greater fee. The only problem was that he pulled over an off-duty police officer. The off-duty officer arrested him on the spot and in doing so they found over two thousand dollars in the Testler's car.

Testler had been put on suspension at his job as a night security guard. I determined that we would go after Testler second. I had brought him in before for both this offense as well as previous offenses. He was an easy skip. He wasn't abusive at all and in the past was generally cooperative.

The last file was for Clare Harlon. She is a senior who was bored with life. Living in a retirement home, she repeatedly called in false fire reports. As she was a low bond, I wanted to leave her for last.

I finished my toast and rinsed the peanut butter off my dirty plate and knife. Then, leaving my dishes in the sink, I put some sunflower seeds in Rex's dish. I watched while he scurried with glee over to stuff his cheeks before heading back to his soup can hidey hole. I finished up in the bathroom and, grabbing my gun out of my cookie jar, and my phone and charged stun gun off my counter, I headed out of my apartment for the day.

I got to the office in record time and parked in the rear parking lot. Connie was the only one in the office. I headed inside to wait for Lula and poured myself a coffee.

"I received a call this morning from a guy asking for your cell number. Even though I know you have it on your business cards, I refused to give it to him until he gave me his name. I am glad that I didn't. It was Guido Berginni. He also asked me where you live, but that was a no brainer. I told him that information was not available to the public."

"Morelli spoke to Berginni and told him I have a boyfriend."

"Are you back together then?"

"No. Morelli made it up hoping that knowledge of a boyfriend would deter Berginni. It sounds like it didn't work."

Lula walked into the office only ten minutes late. That made her five minutes earlier than I expected her. She was carrying in an iced cappuccino drink with extra whipped topping. "It is starting to get hot out there! It is time to switch from coffees to icy drinks, don't you think?"

I thought it was a good idea, but coffees were free at both the bonds office as well as Rangeman whereas icy drinks cost a lot of money when you drink them with the frequency I drink coffee during the day.

"I was thinking we could go after Pilkin first and then we have a couple of new files to chase. One of them is Tony Testler", I said. "Are you interested in riding shotgun again?"

"Hell, yeah. The only thing to do in this office is filing. And that ain't no fun."

We got in my car and headed to the Burg to Pilkin's house. About halfway there I spotted a tail. "Hold on", I said. "We've got a tail and I have to get rid of him."

"Who do you think it is?" asked Lula. She held her drink steady as I raced through the twists and turns of the backstreets.

Having finally lost him, I said "I don't know. I guess it could be Berginni. He called the office this morning looking for my cell number. Connie refused to give it to him."

"I don't know how you attract all the weirdoes. I attract the nice Mr. Fishes, and you attract the stalkers and vandals." It's true. If it was Berginni, he wasn't the first skip who had targeted me. I think he would be the first skip who had done so out of infatuation rather than anger, however.

We arrived at Pilkin's house and rang the doorbell. His sister, Marie, answered the door.

"I'm sorry, but he isn't here right now. He went to 'work'. He said he has another job, a better job than he previously had. And he said he isn't coming in. I could not get him to call you. He said if I called you myself he would kick me out of the house and take over the whole house for himself. He can't do that, can he?"

"Didn't you say that the name on the deed was still your parents?"

"Yes."

"Do you have a will that says the house belongs to both of you?"

"Yes."

"I am not a lawyer, but it would make sense to me that the house is half owned by you and half owned by your brother. If that is the case, you are legally entitled to stay there. You can't throw him out and he can't throw you out. When do you expect him back?"

"I am not exactly sure. I would normally say after work to get dressed for the evening, but his hours have become erratic ever since he was arrested."

"Okay. Do you still have my card?" When she nodded her head yes, I said "please call when you see him. I would hate to see you kicked out of your house because your brother is being a jerk." Tears came to Marie's eyes, but I ignored them. It was imperative that she call me.

"Do you want to try your granny and mother to see if they know something about Pilkin?" I grew up in the Burg and learned at an early age that the Burg is a close-knit community. You could not sneeze without the neighbours knowing within seconds. Gossip travels faster than the speed of light and is considered a valid pastime. My mother and grandmother are dialled into the gossip mill. I have frequently found they know more about my skips than the skip's relatives know.

"I do want to see if they can tell us who some of his honeys are. But while we are here in the Burg, I want to pick up Testler first. I also have a few cheques to take into the bank. And then I'd like to go see my mom and grandmother." I drove the short distance over to Testler's house. I didn't bother parking down the street. Tony knew my car already.

Testler lived in a nine-story condominium building on the eighth floor. We liked that his apartment was so high up. It meant he could not skip out the back door when we weren't looking.

There was a security system on the door. I buzzed the landlord. He met us at the door, checking my Failure-to-Appear papers, my fake badge, and my business cards. Then, deciding we were legitimate, he let us in the building and accompanied us upstairs. Not my first choice. I don't like having an audience if I can help it.

Lula knocked and we listened to Testler shuffle to the door. He stopped as he looked through the peephole, we heard a muffled "shit!", then we heard silence.

"Tony, we know you are in there. I can hear you breathing. You missed your court date again, and I need to take you into the precinct to get rescheduled. You've done this before. You know the drill."

"I'm not dressed."

"Then get dressed. I'm giving you five minutes before I'm coming in." And that is a lie. I don't carry lock picking tools purposely because I have never figured out how to use them. I wouldn't let Lula try to shoot the lock open. The bond value isn't high enough for me to take my life in my hands that way. And with at least two security locks on the door and more likely three, it would be impossible for Lula and me to kick the door down – assuming that was a skill we even had. However, Testler didn't know all that. I heard the locks being opened.

"Come in and wait. I need a shower before I go in."

I was about to say that we didn't have time to wait when I got a good look at Tony. "You are orange. Why are you orange?" I asked.

"I was applying a home-based spray tan", he said. "I was just about to jump in the shower when you called. I hope that some of the orangeness washes off. It wasn't supposed to be this colour."

"We'll wait in the living room, but make it a fast shower." The living room looked onto the entry way. Testler would not be able to leave the apartment without us knowing.

Lula and I waited, quiet, listening to the sounds of the shower. There was a thump as he dropped the soap on his toe and the sounds of him swearing as he did so. Then, half an hour later he emerged with a slightly less orange colouring on his skin.

"I don't know what to do", cried Testler. "I can't get it off. I followed the instructions to the letter, but I am still orange."

"Did you try a loofah sponge?" asked Lula. "I never had to worry about this type of problem. I am naturally tanned. But maybe a loofah sponge would scrape off some of the orange."

"I am embarrassed to be going into the station", he said.

"I can't help you with going into the station. It is something we have to do now. I would wear long sleeves and pants today to cover up some of the orangeness. However, if you let me cuff and shackle you in the car, I will stop at the drug store and buy you a loofah sponge. This will help you ensure that you are not orange when you actually have to go to court."

When I got his agreement, I cuffed him and, locking his door on the way out of the apartment, I walked him down to the car. Once in the car, I shackled him and put his seatbelt on. Then Lula and I drove the car to the drugstore. Lula offered to go in for me. I gave her a twenty and prepared to wait.

Fifteen minutes later Lula emerged, looking pretty happy with herself. I put out my hand for the change, and Lula dropped twenty-three cents in it. "Twenty-three cents! What loofah sponge costs nineteen dollars and seventy-seven cents?"

"Here's the thing", she began as I settled down for a long story, glaring at her. "I bought a loofah, but then I saw they had apricot scrub for sale and I thought the exfoliant might be good. And then I saw body lotion, and I thought the body lotion might lift some of the tan as well. So I got that too. It was all on sale, and since I saved you four dollars by buying it all on sale, I bought myself and Connie each a chocolate bar. I knew you would not want one since you are trying to lose weight." She took the two chocolate bars out of the bag and put the bag on the backseat next to Tony.

"Thanks, Stephanie", said Tony. "You guys sure are nice. I will remember you when I become a police officer."

"Why do you keep impersonating a police officer, anyway, Tony?" I asked.

"I want to become a police officer, but the force keeps turning me down. I have tried five times and each time they have denied my application. So I decided that, if I acted like a police officer, they would have to see how good I would be at it."

"So what were you doing with the money you were collecting from people?"

"I was planning on donating it to the Police Association. Again, I thought it would get me noticed in a good way."

"Do you honestly think the force will hire someone who has a history of being arrested?"

"Yes. When they see how good a police officer I can be, they will be interested in hiring me."

"I don't think so, Tony. I think you should concentrate on being the best security guard you can be."

"That's easy for you to say. You are a bounty hunter. You are almost a police officer yourself. Maybe I should become a bounty hunter."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be. You get shot at, stabbed, and bruised, cars stolen or shot or exploded. You are self-employed and you don't get paid that much. You are much better being a security guard."

"But at least as a bounty hunter you get to shoot people."

"No, the police do not look favourably at anyone who shoots another person, even if the gunman is a bounty hunter." I arrived at the bonds office and dropped off Lula. "It is like being a police officer. Shooting people happens, but it is not preferable and is frowned upon, only accepted if there was no other option", I said.

"Bummer. Have you ever shot someone?"

"Yes."

"Tell me about it?"

"No. They aren't times in my life that I like to relive." I arrived at the precinct and drove Tony up to the drop-off area. I took his shackles off and picking up his bag of supplies, I unbuckled his seatbelt and helped him out of the car. I walked him inside and cuffed him to the bench. I put his bag of supplies in his lap, said goodbye to him and grabbed my paperwork from the docket lieutenant. Then I drove back to the bonds office.

* * *

Two skips left to chase. Feeling pretty good about our success rate over the last few days, I gave my receipt to Connie. When she gave me a cheque I turned to Lula. "I am going to the bank to deposit the cheques, and then heading over to my parents to see if they know anything about Pilkin. Do you want to come?"

"Hell, yeah. I love your granny. Your mom is good, too, but I love your granny. She is my role model. I hope to be as hip when I get to her age as she is. Hell, I hope I am as hip at my age as she is at her age now."

My Grandma Mazur is seventy-something. She entered her second childhood late in life, and frequently acts more like a teenager than her senior years would suggest. She lives with my parents in a semi-satisfying relationship. On my parents' side, her constant shenanigans have given my mother more gray hairs than my sister and myself combined. My father copes with his mother-in-law by vacating the house for the majority of the day. However, my grandmother finds life with her daughter's family boring and staid. Personally, I find her outspokenness and joie de vivre refreshing. But then, I don't have to live with her.

My parents live in a butter yellow semi-detached house on a quiet street in the Burg. With a dark red front door, a small porch and red flowers planted in the front garden, it was home. For years it had been painted brown on the bottom and mustard yellow on the top. The change to butter yellow was a recent one and was one I was still getting used to.

The change in colour goes much better with the lime green neighbouring house. The paint colour next door was the unfortunate result of a foray into the discount paint section. Together the two houses were a colourful addition to the black and white sameness on the rest of the street.

My parents' house was laid out in a linear fashion. On the main floor, the living room, dining room and kitchen were linked together. Upstairs were three small bedrooms and a bathroom. I come from not a large home, but a loving home.

For what may be the first time ever, my grandmother was not standing at the door when we got to it. "Grandma's family sensing radar must be turned off", I said to Lula. I opened the door and heard yelling.

"For the love of God!" yelled my mother. "You are not getting a tattoo."

"Yes, I am", shouted my grandmother. "I have always wanted a tattoo and if I am getting one I had better do it soon, before I die."

"Yoo-hoo!" I said as I entered the kitchen. Lula followed me close behind, trying not to laugh.

"Steph, I am glad you are here. Tell your grandmother it is not a good idea to get a tattoo. I can't talk to her", said my mom, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Tell your mother I am old enough to make my own decisions. I can't talk to her", said my grandmother, throwing her hands up in the air in an exact mimicry of my mother.

"Let's all calm down. Grandma, what kind of tattoo do you think you would like?" I asked.

"I would like a few little butterflies tattooed across my lower back."

"You want a tramp stamp?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"A tramp stamp? Is that what they call them? I like the sound of that. I want it for all my honeys to see."

"What honeys?" shrieked my mother. "I don't see any honeys."

"Well, I don't have any honeys right this instant, but that doesn't mean I will never have a honey again. And if I did I would like to show him my tramp stamp."

My mother crossed herself.

"While I agree that you are old enough to make your own decisions, you do know that it hurts getting a tattoo, don't you, Grandma? That's why I never got one", I said.

"I got one", said Lula. "Right in the area that you are talking about. It was expected when you are a 'ho. Having said that, I wouldn't do it again. I would go for a henna tattoo. They don't hurt and if you don't like it they wear off in time."

"That is a good compromise. Mom, Grandma wouldn't be getting a permanent tattoo and Grandma, you still get your tattoo. Do you think you can compromise on that?" Since neither my mother nor my grandmother looked happy, I figured it was a good compromise. "Now perhaps this isn't a good time, but Lula and I were hungry and we thought we would stop in for lunch." And like magic, the argument was forgotten and my mother and grandmother sprang to attention to get lunch.

"We have some fresh ham, Swiss, provolone, salami and turkey from the deli, and loaf of bread from the bakery. We also have macaroni salad, potato salad and coleslaw." My mother started slicing tomatoes and washing lettuce while my grandmother got out the deli meats and cheeses, the bread and the breadboard, the salads and the mayonnaise and mustard. Five minutes later lunch had appeared on the table and everyone was ready to eat.

"Are you just in the neighbourhood, or are you here on business?" asked my grandmother. She is always disappointed when I say we were just in the neighbourhood, so I was happy to tell her we were there for business. My grandmother's eyes sparkled. "Who do you want the dirt on this time?" she asked.

"Don't help her. You are only encouraging her. She should quit her job and become a stay-at-home mother. Joseph would be willing to support her. Her job is too dangerous", said my mom to my grandmother.

"Mom, we have been over this before. Joe and I are no longer together. I don't want to become a mother at all, let alone a stay-at-home mother. And the longer the skips are out there uncaught, the more dangerous it is to me. If they know I am looking for them, and I don't catch them, that is when the real danger can occur." A month ago my life was in danger because of a skip and my mother has worried extensively about me ever since. Her solution has been for me to quit my job. I don't like that solution.

"I will help Stephanie", said my grandmother. "I don't want her to be in more danger than if we didn't help her." My grandmother turned to me and, when my mother wasn't looking, she winked. "So who do you want information on this time?"

I could hear Lula laughing quietly beside me as she whispered "see? Want to be like her when I grow up."

"There is a guy, mid-twenties, named Gavin Pilkin. He lives here in the Burg. He is supposed to be quite good looking and has many girlfriends."

"Really? I wonder if he takes them older. I'm a cougar, you know", my grandmother said as she growled and drew her fingers through the air like claws swiping at its prey. "I have to be a cougar", she said sadly. "Many of the men my age have already died. Or they can't get their thingy up any more. I'm a sex kitten. Who wants a guy with a floppy thingy?"

"Ma!" said my mother, crossing herself. "That is not appropriate conversation."

"What? We are just talking about sex. Do you think they would be able to get it up if they saw my tramp stamp?"

"Ma! You are not getting a tramp stamp!" said my mother.

Interrupting their approaching argument, I interjected "I don't know if Gavin Pilkin would be interested in an older woman because I have not found him yet. His sister thought he was going to work each day. However, his work laid him off two weeks ago. His sister said he comes home sometimes, but frequently just stays at one of his honeys. She hasn't seen him in a few days."

"What was he nailed for?" asked my grandmother, interest lighting her face.

"He made a mistake. One of his honeys was giving him a blow job while he was driving. He got excited and drove into an oncoming car. His girlfriend died when the airbag deployed on her head, snapping her neck. He has been charged with vehicular manslaughter. Do you know anything about him or even about any of his honeys?"

My mother must have decided that the case sounded somewhat benign. "I heard of the Pilkin family. Didn't the parents die a couple of years ago? I think the wife died of an allergic reaction to nuts and the husband died of a heart attack shortly afterwards."

"That sounds about right. The sister and Pilkin co-own the house. Pilkin put the house up for collateral on the bond and now the sister is in danger of losing the house if I can't find him."

"That's just terrible!" said my mother. "I'm not sure if I would know Gavin if I saw him, so I don't know how handsome he is. However, I have heard his name linked to Theresa Russo and Francesca Krempett and Annie Katts. He does have the reputation of getting around."

"Francesca's grandmother died last week and she is being laid out at Stiva's tonight. Do you want me to do some digging?" asked my grandmother excitedly.

"Thanks, but I think I might go with you to the viewing and see if I can spot Pilkin myself. What time would you like to be picked up?" I asked.

"Seven?" suggested Grandma. "That way not all the good seats are taken. I like to be able to see what is going on."

"If you take your grandmother to the funeral home, you are responsible for making sure she does not make a spectacle of herself", said my mother as she shook her finger at me. It was a tall order. My grandmother believed that, if she went to the work of getting dressed up and getting to the funeral home, she should be allowed to view the body. This is a problem when it is a closed casket. My grandmother has been known to pry the lid open so that she could see the deceased. "Do you want to come for dinner beforehand?" asked my mother.

I said yes and, having made arrangements, Lula and I left for the afternoon.

Deciding I was tired and did not feel like any further skip chasing, I deposited the cheques in the bank, took out Lula's ten percent of what I earned to give to her, and drove her back to the bonds office. Then I drove to Rangeman to work for the afternoon. On getting to the office I took out my phone, strapped on my gun, poured myself a coffee, and settled down to work.

As I turned on my computer and waited for it to boot up, I checked my phone messages. There was one from Connie. _"I have another file for you. Come pick it up tomorrow?"_ I wrote back _"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."_ I got another message from Vinnie. _"What are you doing at Rangeman? You have outstanding skips. I need all the money I can get right now. Get out there and catch those fuckers."_ I debated about ignoring him, but finally decided it would be rude. So I wrote back _"Am working this evening. Will pick up Lula to work again tomorrow. Don't worry. We'll find them. In the meantime be happy with the skips that we have caught over the last couple of days."_ I got an additional text from an unknown number. It said _"We are meant to be together. Know that I love you."_ I sent back the text, _"Who are you?"_

There were no more Operations files but there were four new files from Sales. On the top file was a note _"Sexy Stephanie. Thank you for your prompt attention to these files. Let me know when you are available for dinner."_ Maybe I was just being hyperaware because of the texts I was receiving, but a shiver ran down my spine anyway.

I researched each of the four files, writing my findings into a report on each potential client. Then I put them in their files and ran them down to the Sales offices. Entering their offices, I ran into Adam and handed him the files. "Here you go. All caught up again", I said.

"Spicy Stephanie! I love seeing you in your Rangeman uniform and you look so hot with your gun strapped on. But I would love to see you even more with your uniform on my bedroom floor."

"Eeww. Not going to happen, but thanks for the offer."

"Not my smoothest line?"

"No, definitely not. And I'm definitely not interested."

"Maybe we could meet for dinner and discuss whether we have any mutual interests some time? I can take you out of the office for dinner. You deserve a break. You work too hard."

"No, we are not going to have dinner together, although again, thank you for the offer. Enjoy your files", I said as I left his office.

I went back up to my desk and pulled a picture of Francesca Krempett. I printed it off for my files and tidied up. Then, breathing a deep sigh of resignation, I got a box of bullets from the storeroom and went down to the gun range to practice shooting.

After half an hour I was getting tired and my aim was becoming erratic. However, I was happy with my results from the beginning of the practice session. I went back upstairs, putting the remaining bullets back into the storeroom, and went down to my car to go home. Adam was leaning against my car hood.

"Stunning Stephanie! Fancy meeting you here!"

"Get off my car, Adam. I want to go home."

"You could go to my home with me. We could have dinner."

"Thank you, but I'm not interested. Even if I was, I would not be able to do so tonight as I am attending a funeral."

"I am sorry to hear that. Perhaps we can get together after the funeral and you can cry on my shoulder. I have good shoulders to cry on."

"I am sure you do, but I am still not interested. Now if you could get off my car, I would like to go home."

"A kiss first?" he said with a grin.

"A kick in the balls first?" I said, not grinning. He grimaced and moved off the car, holding my door open for me and shutting it softly after I got in. I was happy to see him in my rear-view mirror as I drove away.

I drove home and automatically looked upwards to my apartment. All my windows were in one piece and were shiny clean. There was no one on my fire escape. All good.

I entered the building. Mr. Wolenski was sitting on his walker in the lobby. "How was your day?" I asked him.

"It was a wonderful day", he replied.

"Has it been quiet around my apartment today?" I asked, my fingers crossed behind my back for luck.

"Yes, although I think you had a flower delivery."

"Did the delivery person leave again?" I asked.

"Yes, they dropped off the flowers and left."

"How long ago was that?"

"About half an hour ago. I came down here just after Days of Our Lives ended. I like to watch that show. You never know what is going to happen. It is almost as exciting as living in the same building as you, chicky!"

I thanked Mr. Wolenski for the information and went up to my apartment. Laying on the carpet outside the door was a single yellow rose and a note. I picked them up and went inside. I said hello to my attack hamster and put my gun away in the cookie jar. Preliminaries done, my curiosity could not stand it any longer. I opened the note. _"I knew as soon as I saw you that you were the one for me. You can put me in cuffs any day."_

Okay, so the flower definitely wasn't from Ranger. And it wasn't from Morelli. Could be Adam. And it could be Guido. Or it could be any number of skips that I had captured in the past. I put the flower in water and went to have a shower.

When I got out of the shower, I blasted my hair and applied a fresh layer of makeup. Foundation, bronzer, eyeliner, mascara. Two coats on the mascara. And raspberry lip gloss. I put on a pale blue stretchy t-shirt and my black funeral suit with a low pair of black pumps. Picking up my phone to put in my purse, I glanced down to see if I had missed any messages. I had a new text message. _"Did you like my flower? I will send you a flower for every day you are away from me. Until we meet again."_ I sent a message back. _"Who are you?"_ I then put my phone back in my bag and left the apartment for my parents' house for dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five **

I dropped my grandmother off at the funeral home doors at ten to seven. Getting there so early meant I was able to get a parking spot only three blocks away. It was going to be a full house. I hoped the funeral directors had stocked up on a lot of cookies. A funeral home without cookies was a recipe for disaster. All the seniors would go on a rampage. Many of them show up just for the free cookies. They do not even have to know the deceased.

My grandmother is just such a professional mourner. She comes to the funeral home at least two or three times per week for the social outing. She likes the cookies, she likes the people, and she likes the gossip. All in all, a good night out for her.

My grandmother waited for me outside the funeral home with all the smokers. As I joined her, she said "you know, that is something I never tried. Smoking cigarettes. I also haven't tried smoking a cigar or marijuana. Do you think it would be fun to smoke marijuana?"

"It would give you the munchies and you would gain weight. And then you would have to buy all new clothes, and I don't think your Social Security cheque will cover an entire new wardrobe."

"That's a good point. Although I would like to try it", she said wistfully.

The Krempett funeral was in viewing room three. This is the room that nobody wants their relatives in. The smallest of the three viewing rooms, it was tucked in the back and reserved for the unknown and the unloved. The plan was for my grandmother to visit the first two viewing rooms before making her way back to the third room. I went directly to the third room.

Unlike my grandmother I am a closed casket kind of girl. I don't like seeing the deceased. I am always waiting for them to sit up and say that it was all a big practical joke. Unfortunately for me, the casket was open. I joined the line of mourners and made my way up to the family to express my condolences. Francesca was at the end of the receiving line. I expressed my sympathy, shaking hands and exchanging hugs with family members, until I got to Francesca.

I introduced myself. "I am sorry to be bothering you at a time like this, but I was hoping to ask you some questions about Gavin Pilkin. Would you like to talk when there is a lull in the mourners coming in, or would you prefer that I contact you later on this evening or tomorrow?" I asked.

"I can talk to you later on this evening if you would like to wait."

"I absolutely would like to wait but I just have one question. Has he already come in to express his condolences?"

"No, and I don't expect him to. We had a big argument a few days ago and I haven't seen him since."

I went back to the pews and sat down. There was a steady stream of mourners coming in the doors. I sat back. I was going to be there for a long time.

I heard a crash and my grandmother came running into Slumber Room Three. "An incident happened in Slumber Room Two", she said. "I think it is time to go home now."

"But I haven't spoken with Francesca yet!"

"I really think you should talk to her another day", said my grandmother frantically. She pulled me to my feet. I walked up to the front and whispered in Francesca's ear that I would call and leave my number on her voice mail, and asked that she would call me back. She nodded that she would. Then, with my grandmother tugging on my arm, I started for the door.

When we got outside Slumber Room Two, the funeral director stepped in front of us. "Edna!" he hissed. "There is a very upset family in that viewing room. They were already grieving, and now the deceased is smashed up from falling on the floor. His nose broke off. The family is devastated. The least you could do is go and apologize."

"But it wasn't my fault. Someone pushed me into the casket and it just happened to pop open when it fell. I didn't do it."

"Whether you did or did not do it, you left a very upset family in the room. You need to go and apologize and you are not allowed any cookies until you do."

"No cookies? You can't do that."

"I can and I will. No cookies until you apologize."

Grandma looked towards the floor and her shoulders hunched over as she drew into herself. Then, you could almost visibly see her deciding that, if she was going to the effort of making an apology, she would do it with full dramatic flair. She squared her shoulders and walked into the room, her head held high. She moved up to the front of the room. The deceased's family all stood in front of the casket to try to protect their loved one from further harm. My grandmother got down on her knees. "Please forgive me for being pushed into the casket this evening. It was never my intention to be pushed, and it was never my intention for the casket to pop open and your father to land on his face. I understand how difficult a time this is for you and this incident did not make it any easier. Please forgive me. I'm begging you."

A sob tore out from the widow and her daughter put her arm around her mother. "We forgive you", said the son in an angry voice. "Just go."

I pulled my grandmother to her feet and escorted her from the room. As we walked out into the lobby, she turned to the funeral director. "I think that apology deserved at least three cookies, don't you?" The director shook his head and walked away.

"I think these should be cookies to go", I told my grandmother as I wrapped the cookies in a napkin for her. We left the building.

"That man didn't sound like he accepted my apology", said Grandma. "I did the best apology I could think of but I don't think he accepted it at all."

"He was pretty mad. Who were they, anyway?" I asked.

"I haven't got a clue."

Grandma ate her cookies on the way to my parents'. When we got there, she asked me if I would like to come in and have some coconut cream pie. Knowing that my mother would have already heard about the incident from at least ten different mourners who were there that night, I decided it would be prudent to go home. While my mother would be angry with my grandmother for knocking over the casket, she would be equally as angry with me for letting it happen. I dropped off my grandmother at the door. My desire for a quick getaway made me stay in the car while I watched to make sure my grandmother made it into the house all right. Once the door was closed, I put the car into drive and sped away.

My mother called minutes after I dropped off my grandmother. I was in the car and unable to answer. By the time I got home there were three more messages from my mother, one from Joe, and one from an unknown number. It was a different unknown number than the text message.

All four messages from my mother were the same. "Stephanie! I am cutting you off dessert for this. How could you! How could you let your grandmother make a mockery of the sacred rituals at the funeral parlour? No dessert for at least two weeks. You grandmother isn't getting any either. Call me back as soon as you get home."

The message from Joe was laughing. "Cupcake. Give me a call. I want to hear about what your grandmother did tonight."

The message from the unknown number was Adam's voice. "Just wondering whether you needed a shoulder to cry on yet."

I changed Rex's water and fed him some hamster crunchies. I also gave him a raisin. I figured, just because I would have to go without dessert for a couple of weeks, he shouldn't have to as well.

Then, taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to face the music and called my mother.

"What do you think you were doing, letting your grandmother alone in the funeral home? Do you know how many phone calls I have had about this? I have had over a dozen in the last fifteen minutes alone."

"Mom, I wasn't even there. I was waiting for a break in the mourners to talk with Francesca Krempett."

"You weren't even there! You know you can't leave her alone. All this nonsense about falling into the casket. You and I both know she didn't fall. She wasn't pushed. She decided to help herself to a look and off-balanced the casket as a result. And that farce of an apology! I can't even find the words."

"There is some good news in all this, Mom."

"What is that, because I certainly can't see it?"

"We don't know who the family was. They were complete strangers."

"And that is supposed to be a good thing?"

"Sure it is. The family won't be confronting you in the store tomorrow when you do your grocery shopping."

"There is that. I guess that is a good thing."

"And with having to leave early you did not have to hear stories about me taking down my skip at the funeral home again."

"There is that as well."

"See, Mom? It's not all bad."

"No, I guess it isn't. But you still don't get dessert for another two weeks."

I phoned Morelli next.

"I heard your grandmother struck again. I wish I could have seen it."

"I wish I hadn't. It was terrible. Not only did she knock the casket over so the deceased fell on his face and broke his nose, but she then got down on her knees to beg for forgiveness. She didn't even know the family. It was horrible", I said as I started to laugh. "I just finished talking to my mother. She cut me off dessert for the next two weeks."

"She must be really angry. She never cuts you off food."

"I think I talked her down from cutting me out of the will. How are you doing?"

"Good. I got to arrest someone today. It was for that murder in the projects that happened last week. It was an open and shut case. It is nice when they work out like that. How about you? Has Berginni been bothering you?"

"Someone has been bothering me, but I'm not sure if it has been Berginni."

Morelli's voice took on his serious, don't-mess-with-me cop tone. "What do you mean?"

"I have someone sending me texts, but I don't know the number. I have asked a couple of times who the person is and they have not responded. Now I have had a flower left at my apartment door by the same person. I got a text shortly after saying they would leave a flower on my doorstep for every day when we are apart."

"Did the flower come with a note?"

"Yes. It said that I could put him in cuffs any day, and that he fell in love with me from the first time he saw me."

"It sounds like it could be Berginni. What has you hesitating?"

"There is also an irritating person in Sales who doesn't seem to be getting the message that I am not interested in him. I haven't decided yet if the flower guy could be him, however, or whether he is just annoyingly inappropriate."

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"No, thanks. I can handle this myself."

"Is Ranger still away?"

"Yes."

"Then at least tell Tank what is going on. Neither Tank or Ranger will be happy to know one of their staff is being harassed."

"I know. I would like to try to handle it myself first, though. If I tell Tank or Ranger, the guy will be out of a job and I will feel bad."

"You are such a cupcake. Let me know if you need any support."

We said goodbye to each other and then, checking my text messages to find out the flower guy had not identified himself, I got ready for bed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six **

I met Lula at the office at nine thirty. I arrived at the same time as Lula.

"Ranger still out of town?" she asked as she got into the car with me.

"Yes." I started driving to the old folks' home to pick up Clare Harlon, the woman who made false 911 calls to report fires.

"Hunh."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means two things. It means that you will be grouchy because you aren't getting any, and you are always grouchy when you don't get any. And it means I saw on the news that a coup happened in Suriname. There seems to always be a coup when Ranger is in the wind. Don't you ever wonder about that? Aren't you even a little bit curious about what he is doing?"

"Of course I am curious. But since we are just friends, I don't have the right to ask him."

"Friends with benefits, maybe. You did go out for one date and then he got called out of town."

"He has only been gone for five days. I'm sure it would take much longer to stage a coup than five days."

"You believe what you want to believe, girlfriend. I just think there is an awful coincidence to always have it happen when he goes away."

"When you think about it, there are coups all over the world all the time. Even when Ranger is here. The fact that he leaves does not necessarily mean there will be a coup."

"As I said, you believe what you want to believe. I will believe what my ears are telling me."

"I'm just saying, you could be adding one plus two and equalling four. They could be two totally separate events."

"Hunh."

My phone pinged with a text message. _"I will give you a hint as to who I am. You saw me the other day."_

I wrote back, _"I saw lots of people the other day. You need to give me another hint."_ I waited a minute but did not get any return messages.

"Was that a message from Ranger? 'Cause you are looking at that phone like you was looking at a serpent about to strike. That don't look like no happy face to me."

"No, it wasn't from Ranger. I have one or two people who have become fixated on me. One of them I know for sure. The other one I don't know if he is the first one, or if it is a second person who has become obsessed."

"Who is the first one?"

"He is someone who works at Rangeman in Sales."

"And he is harassing you? Poor fool. If he is lucky, Ranger will just fire him. If he isn't so lucky…"

"I know. That is why I don't want to talk to Tank about it, but would rather deal with it on my own if I can. Morelli says I should go to Tank right away."

"I think he is right. So what about the potential second one?"

"I have been getting text messages and flowers from someone. The person won't tell me who they are, but judging by the messages I suspect it is either the Rangeman guy or Berginni. It could be someone else, of course, but I suspect it is one of those two."

"What does Morelli say?"

"He has already talked to Berginni. He said to call him if I need more support."

"I think you better keep his number on speed dial."

"Yeah, I'm afraid of that." I looked at my messages again. No response. I put my phone away and got out of the car. I tucked my cuffs into the back of my waistband but did not bother pulling out my pepper spray or stun gun. Clare had both asthma and a heart condition.

Lula and I walked into the home and went to the front desk. We asked for Clare Harlon and were sent to a room on the second floor.

Getting off the elevator, we walked down to Clare's room. As we came close, we saw a party of sorts happening. There were five old women grouped around the window, all sipping wine and staring outside. We walked in the room. "Clare Harlon?" I asked.

"Shh. We are just getting to the good part", said a lady. I heard the sirens as I walked to the window to see what was going on.

A fire truck came roaring up the driveway. It parked right in front of the building, the firefighters swarming off the truck in full protective gear. One of the firefighters, who must have been the captain, ran into the building. He came out a few minutes later, his helmet and mask in his hand. He said something to his crew and shook his head. The entire crew started stripping off their protective gear. A collective gasp went up from the five women.

"That one", said one of the ladies. "The one on the right. That's my beefcake."

"I'll take the one on the left", said another lady.

"Wait a minute. This is my room and I made the call. I should get first pick."

"Okay, Clare, but pick soon. I want to pick", said another lady.

Clare leaned so close to the window she was leaving nose prints on the glass. "That one", she said. "The one in the middle."

The third lady piped up "I pick the guy who just climbed onto the truck."

"Damn", said the last lady. "That was the guy that I was planning on choosing as well. Okay, I will pick the one beside Clare's."

"What are you picking them for?" I asked.

Without even looking away from the view, Clare said "we are picking them out for who we would want to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on us in the event of an emergency."

"They are some pretty fine looking men", said Lula. "Is that what you do, you call the fire department to come and light up your lives?"

"Exactly. Life is boring in the old folks' home. We have to do something to liven things up. Otherwise we are stuck playing bingo with the rest of the elderlies. And I don't want to spend the last years of my life using bingo daubers to mark up my cards just so that I can yell out 'bingo'. It is not like we even win anything. If we won a trip down to the Caribbean, then hell, I would play bingo with the best of them. But the most we win is an extra applesauce at lunch. Ugh. I hate applesauce. So we organize a time for the five of us to get together. I get one of my grandkids to smuggle in a bottle of wine and I call the fire department. We are still stuck here, but at least we have some fun. Why are you here, anyway?"

"I am Stephanie Plum, and this is Lula. We represent your bonding agent. You missed your court date and we have come to take you back in to reschedule." The ladies started murmuring amongst themselves.

"I don't want to go in to court right now. I am too busy."

"Too busy doing what?" Lula asked.

A man came into the room and glared at Clare, face red and mottled with anger. The murmuring of the ladies stopped as, shaking his finger at her, he yelled "Clare, you did it again. If you call the fire department one more time reporting a non-existent fire, I will personally pack your bags myself and throw you out of this facility."

"I would really love to stay and talk to you about this right now, Oscar, but these two ladies have come to take me into the courthouse. Apparently I missed my court date and I need to reschedule." Clare grabbed Lula's and my hands and dragged us from the room. She hustled us outside and looked at the parking lot. "Which car is yours?" she asked. When I pointed it out to her, she practically pushed me to the car.

"Oscar is an old fuddy-duddy", she said. "He has no sense of humour."

"I can see why he doesn't want to have the fire department called, though. If you call too many times, they will discount a call when you really need it", I said.

"Now you sound like an old fuddy-duddy."

"I don't mean to. It is just that I have had a need for the fire department to come a few times to my apartment, and I would hate it if someone in my building called in false alarms so often that the firefighters didn't come promptly when I needed them."

"You actually had a fire? What happened? Did your toast burn?"

"No. I have been fire bombed a few times though."

"A few times? How does one get firebombed?"

"Not all of my skips are as nice as you. Sometimes they take it personally when I have to bring them in, and they retaliate."

"Not all of our skips are so nice as to firebomb her apartment, either", added in Lula. "She has been shot at, vandalized, kidnapped, held at knifepoint, drugged, and thrown in the river with a cement block tied to her feet. You name it, and it likely has been tried on her. She has had need for emergency services many, many times."

"Firebombing is bad because it affects so many people. It is not like mugging or assault which just affects me", I said. "But you can see why it is important for the fire department to not become immune to the calls. You never know when their presence will be needed. Now, I won't cuff you", I started.

"No, cuff me please. I want the full experience of going to prison. I want a story to tell the girls when I get back."

I looked at Lula. She shrugged her shoulders at me, as if to say "it is up to you". I looked in Clare's pleading eyes and pulled the cuffs from my waistband. "All right, I will do it. But I will feel like a complete idiot if I shackle you as well." She looked at me again, begging me to shackle her. "No, absolutely not." I cuffed her in the front, then put her in the car. I did up her seatbelt then got in the front of the car. "You will likely be at the precinct for a while. Do you need anything to eat before we go?"

"Really? You will get me something?"

"Of course. I don't want you to be hungry while you are in there. I have a grandmother, too, and I wouldn't want her to go hungry."

"You must be a good granddaughter. Would McDonald's be all right? We never have hamburgers at the home. We only have pureed and overcooked food."

"McDonald's is just fine." I drove to the closest McDonald's and went through the drive-through. I ordered a Big Mac combo with a Coke for Clare, a Quarter Pounder with Cheese combo with a ten pack of chicken McNuggets and a root beer for Lula, and a Caesar salad with grilled chicken for me.

"You aren't still on that stupid-ass diet, are you?" asked Lula.

"Am I wearing my jeans yet?" I asked. "Besides, I'm not exactly on a diet. I'm just trying to eat more healthily."

"Don't diet", said Clare from the back. "Life is too short. Enjoy eating as much as you can because the day will come soon enough when you are being fed baby food and a salt-free, fat-free, taste-free diet."

"I am with you there, sister", said Lula. My phone pinged with another text message. I pulled my phone from my purse as Lula looked at me. "Is it the Romeo?" she asked.

I looked, and nodded my head. I read the message out loud. _"I have left you another rose as a symbol of our love. It will be on your doorstep when you go home tonight. Keep your doors unlocked and I will come for you when you sleep."_

"Creepy", said Lula.

"Is this guy good-looking?" asked Clare. "He could come for me when I sleep. I wouldn't mind."

"You might. I have no idea who this person is. All I know is that he knows where I live and he knows my phone number. The only people that I can think of who might be my Romeo don't know that information." I put the lid back on my salad, suddenly not hungry any more.

"What will you do?" asked Lula.

"I'm taking Rex to sleep at Ranger's tonight."

"Who is Ranger?" asked Clare.

"Ranger is this really hot guy that would put all of your firefighters to shame. He is Steph's boyfriend."

"NO! We aren't going out together. We have only been on one date. That's it. And he isn't even in town right now. I will just crash at his place until Romeo moves on."

"Sure. And if Ranger comes back?"

"Then he will help me find out who the Mysterious Romeo is." I got out my phone again and wrote a responding text to him. _"You still haven't told me who you are. I don't open my door to strangers."_

I got an immediate text back. _"I'm not a stranger and I can get in without you opening your door."_

"_Then you have some skills"_, I wrote.

"_I have skills in more than breaking and entering. I could make your body sing. I will show you tonight."_

"_Not happening. I still don't know who you are."_ The guy didn't send any more messages to me, so I put my phone away. I got out of the car and disposed of our garbage. Then, I drove Lula back to the office. "I am going to my apartment to get Rex and some clothes, and then heading over to Rangeman for the afternoon. Let's plan on working on Pilkin tomorrow", I said.

"Right-o", said Lula.

* * *

"I don't understand. You have a hot guy that you have had one date with. Are you certain that the messenger is not the hot guy?" Clare asked.

"Certain", I said.

"How can you tell?" she asked.

"Ranger would not tell me to wait for him. He would just come, and we have been friends long enough that he would know I would always be welcoming. Then there is telling me to keep the doors unlocked. Ranger doesn't need me to unlock the doors. He can get into anywhere at any time. And finally, he wouldn't be leaving me yellow roses. He would know that red roses symbolize romantic love and yellow roses symbolize friendship. He wouldn't mess up the symbolism. More than anything else, though, he would not try to scare me like this. He is an upfront kind of guy. This kind of game playing isn't his style."

I parked the car in the drop-off zone and helped Clare out of the car. I escorted her into the precinct to transfer her into police custody. I met Morelli as I was going in. "Are you buying lunch for your skips again?" he asked.

"How could you tell?"

"Your skip has ketchup to the side of her mouth."

"Very astute, Morelli", I said as Clare tried to wipe the ketchup away.

"That is why I get paid the big bucks. Have you heard anything else from your Romeo?"

"I have. Let me just get Clare taken care of, and then I will show you the messages." I cuffed her to the bench and took my papers to the duty officer. Getting my body receipt, I walked back to Joe. "I have had a few messages. He still won't tell me who he is, however." I showed Morelli the thread.

"What do you want to do? Do you want to stay at my place tonight? I don't feel comfortable with you staying at your place."

"I was thinking I would take Rex and go to Ranger's. He isn't there right now, and his apartment is just standing there open."

"I hope you are good and freaked out about this. This is the kind of thing that can turn ugly fast."

"I am probably more aware of that fact than most people, Morelli. Jeez, what do you think I am, stupid? Of course this has me upset. It has me more worried because I don't know who it is. It is always a bit easier when you can put a face and name to the threat. It makes it more manageable. It could be anyone, someone I deal with on a day-to-day basis, and I don't even know."

"Do you want me to stay at your place tonight? I still want you offsite. Staying at Ranger's will do if you don't want to stay at my place. Perhaps I will be able to catch him."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"You aren't asking. I am offering."

"Then thank you. I will take you up on it. I will be happy when this guy is caught."

"Good thing I never gave your key back."

I just smiled. The truth of it was that I didn't want it back. Although I didn't want Morelli as a boyfriend any longer, I still highly valued his friendship.

"I am getting Rex now and packing a bag for Ranger's. Then I am heading over to Rangeman to work for the afternoon. I have had enough of skip chasing for the day."

"Good. I have had enough of you being exposed for the day. I will be glad when you are back at Rangeman. Can you text me and let me know when you get there?"

I agreed, and reached up and kissed Morelli on the cheek. "Thanks for being a good friend, Joe."

He leaned down and kissed me lightly on the mouth. "Any time, Cupcake, any time."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven **

I called Tank from my apartment, explaining that I was bringing Rex and would be staying in Ranger's place for a while. I told him I wasn't sure how long I would be there.

"Everything okay, Steph?" he asked.

"Yeah. I just have a Mysterious Romeo who has decided that he has fallen in love with me. He has been leaving me flowers and text messages, but he won't tell me who he is. He has threatened to visit me tonight. So I am coming to Ranger's and Morelli is staying in my place to try to catch him."

"Let me know if I can help."

I hung up the phone and packed a duffel bag of clean laundry and toiletries. Slinging it over my shoulder, I picked up Rex's cage, locked the door, and transferred everything to my car. I drove to Rangeman and transferred everything up to Ranger's apartment. Putting Rex's cage on the kitchen counter, I looked at him. "Don't get any ideas", I said. "This isn't home, even if it feels like it. We are only camping out until we figure out who the Romeo is. Then we have to give Ranger his space back." Rex didn't look like he cared one way or the other.

I picked up my bag and went into Ranger's bedroom. His master suite, which takes up half of the apartment, consists of a large and luxurious five-piece bathroom, a king-sized bedroom, and enormous walk-in closet, and an office that also served as a den. The smell of Ranger's Bulgari Green bath products hung in the air.

I put my duffel bag in the closet and, putting my gun on, I picked up my phone and went down to my desk. On my desk were three new files from Sales, with a note on the top. _"Sensual Stephanie, I missed you last night. Your mouth says no but your eyes say yes. I was waiting to be the shoulder for you to cry on. Here are three more files for you to do. I will wait in the office until you bring them down for me. Then perhaps we can grab some dinner tonight?"_ I slipped the note in the file with the other note, put it in my desk, and started to work on the files from Sales.

Three hours later, I had just about finished. The files were large ones and had taken a lot of time to complete. Tank came through to my desk. "Let's see these messages from Romeo", he said. I got out my phone and showed him the thread. "I am glad you are staying at Ranger's place tonight. Do you have any ideas on who your Romeo could be?"

"It could be anybody, but I have it narrowed down to two good potentials." I looked over Tank's shoulder and saw Adam walking towards me, a huge smile on his face and what looked like another half dozen files. "We have company coming and I don't want to talk about this right now, okay, Tank?"

"But…"

"Not right now, Tank." I turned to Adam. "You are just in time. I have finished two of your three files and am just finishing the report on the third."

"I have six or so more for you to do."

"You know, you could email the requests to me. You don't have to walk them up." Tank walked back to his office.

"Spectacular Stephanie, then I wouldn't be able to see your smiling face. You brighten my day just by being here. Have you decided where you would like to go for dinner?"

"I'm not going out for dinner with you. Not now, not ever."

"You will change your mind. They all do." He turned around and, whistling, walked across the control room to the elevators. The whistling sounded really loud, puncturing the quiet stillness of the floor. Both the staff working the monitors looked annoyed at the intrusion.

I opened the six folders and started researching companies and staff for each of the files. For the first file, I could not find any information. There was no address, no phone number, no company registration, no IRS information, nothing. I looked extensively for almost three quarters of an hour, but could not find anything anywhere. I looked at the file again and wondered if Adam was starting to make up companies in order to give me work to do. Thinking that was being silly, I made note of the lack of information and wrote up a report. It did not take me long. After all, how long does it take to write down the avenues that I had researched and the fact that I did not find any information?

The rest of the companies I had more success with. I spent the next four hours researching each of the companies and writing up their reports.

By the time I was finished, the monitoring staff were exchanging positions with the patrol staff. Just before they shifted over, I went into the control room and asked Hal whether he would mind running the files down to Sales on his way down to the patrol car.

"No problem, Steph, but why?"

"There is an Office Romeo in Sales who seems to have set his attentions on me. It is probably nothing. But I am a little uncomfortable with the attention. He said he was going to wait for me to drop off the files and then take me out for dinner. He is not really taking the word 'no' seriously."

"Is that the loser who whistled his way across the control room floor when I was coming on shift?"

"That's the one. He bothers me."

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"No, that's all right. I think if I ignore him long enough, he will get the message."

"Why don't you tell Tank?"

"Because if I tell Tank, he will be fired and I would feel bad. This is essentially my problem and I should be the one dealing with it. I just don't want to deal with it right now. I am tired."

"No problem, Steph." He held his hand out for the files. "I will walk them down right now."

* * *

Finished for the day, I got a box of bullets from the storeroom and went down to the gun range. I was the only person there. I set up a target and practiced shooting for half an hour. I reminded myself what Ranger always said to me. I didn't have to like it, but I did have to know how to do it. By the end of half an hour my groupings were starting to get loose again and my arm was getting tired. But at the beginning of the practice session my aim was much better. I was amazed at how much I had improved. Six weeks ago, when I first started practicing in the range, I couldn't hit a bulls-eye. Now I was able to hit several. I still had a long way to go, but I was definitely improving.

Putting my safety gear away, I went to the elevators to catch a ride up. The doors opened up and there was a smiling Adam on the other side. "This is a wonderful coincidence", he said. "I was just thinking about you."

I stepped to the side to let him off the elevators. He just moved further back inside. "I will catch a ride up with you. I would like the chance to talk with you before I go for the day."

"I don't want to catch a ride with you, though. I will wait for the next elevator."

"There is only one elevator. I will wait on the elevator all day until I get a ride with you."

"Then I guess you will be on the elevator for a long time." I stood back and leaned against the wall. He just stared at me. "I wouldn't mess around with me right now. I have a gun and I am in a nasty mood."

"I could sweeten your mood. I could take you out to dinner and wine and dine you in the manner you deserve."

"I don't think so." I was getting very tired of Adam, and all I wanted to do was go up to Ranger's apartment and have a hot bath.

My phone pinged. I checked the phone; I had one new text message. It was from Morelli. _"I am at your place. All is quiet. There have been no new flower deliveries."_ I texted him back _"Thank you for letting me know. Currently trying to get away from Office Romeo. If he keeps this up, I will have to tattle on him."_

"Problems?" Adam asked.

"No. Just messaging with a friend of mine. Now, this is what is going to happen. You will get off the elevator and go home. I will get on the elevator and go upstairs. There will be no mutual use of the elevator. Do I make myself clear?"

"I love it when you get all firm and dominatrix on me."

I looked at him. He wasn't moving. "GET OFF THE ELEVATOR!" I yelled.

With a grin he stared at me and said "Sumptuous Stephanie, make me."

"You really, really do not want to do this", I said. "Do not go head to head with me."

Just then the door to the stairwell opened up. Eduardo came through. "Hey, Steph, the elevator seems to be stuck."

"Actually, Adam was just finding it within himself to get off the elevator. His feet seem to be made of cement. I am heading back onto the floor. Perhaps you can take the elevator up with me?"

"Sure thing, Steph."

We both turned to watch Adam as he sauntered by us, his hand trailing across my arm as he did so. "This isn't over, Splendid Stephanie. You are mine. You just don't know it yet." He walked out of the building into the underground parking lot.

A shiver went down my spine. "Thanks for rescuing me. We were at an impasse. I didn't want to get on the elevator with him, and I didn't want to go into the stairwell knowing that he would follow me. Yet he wouldn't get off the elevator. I was debating about whether it would be a good idea to pull the fire alarm just so I wouldn't have to be alone with him any longer."

"Hal told me you were having problems with him, so when I saw you on the monitors refusing to get on, I checked into who was on the elevators. Miguel was just on the way into the break room. I got him to watch the monitors for me and here I am."

The doors opened up on the control room floor. "Thank you for coming to my aid." I walked into the storeroom and put the box of bullets back on the shelf. Then I headed down to the break room for some dinner. Miguel followed me into the room.

"You could have just shot him, you know", he said. "He's an asshole and a few extra holes in his body could only be an improvement."

"True, but I don't like shooting people. It gives me an icky feeling."

"Why don't you just tell Tank?"

"I don't want to. I want a chance to deal with this myself first, because if I just tell Tank, Adam will no longer have a job. And that will make me feel bad. No matter how much I don't like him, I have to try getting through to him myself first." I headed over to look at the selections for the night. Chicken a la king, beef barley soup, sandwiches, salads, cut vegetables, fruit. No dessert. I sighed and helped myself to some chicken a la king, a biscuit, and a carton of milk.

Waiting for Miguel to make his selections, I got a text from Morelli. _"How is the Office Romeo? Has he gone home yet?"_

"_Problematic, but neutralized for now. Eduardo and Miguel had to come to help. Romeo has gone home and I am safely holed up in the break room eating dinner. Going up to the apartment soon."_

A few minutes later I got another text from Morelli. _"Go tell Tank."_

"Morelli wants me to tell Tank as well."

"I think it is the right thing to do. However, if you do not feel comfortable doing so yet, I will just pass the word around the monitoring staff to keep an eye out for you."

"Thanks, Miguel. It means a lot to me that everyone is willing to back me on this. I just don't want to get the guy fired, that's all."

"The guy is an idiot. It wouldn't be any loss to Rangeman for him to leave the company. Salesmen are a dime a dozen. We could do much better with someone else in Sales."

I finished my dinner and put my dirty dishes on the cart. "I can do this. I just need a little more time with him. But I can't be alone with him."

"Just remember all your self-defence training. And don't forget you have a gun. No one would mind if you used it."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight **

After a long hot bath, I put on some underwear and one of Ranger's t-shirts. Feeling more secure than I had since before Adam refused to get off the elevator, I checked my messages. There was a text message from my Mysterious Romeo. _"You have company tonight. This doesn't mean I won't come for you. This just means I won't come for you tonight. We will be together. It is just a matter of time. You were meant for me."_ I took a screen shot of the message and sent it off to Morelli.

A few minutes later my phone rang. "Hi. Did you get the copy of the message that I just sent you?" I asked Morelli.

"Yes. The guy must have your apartment under surveillance. I have been staying away from the windows, so he must have recognized me somehow and saw me coming in."

"Will you stay?"

"Yes. If he has the apartment under surveillance as we speak, he will know if I leave and will try to get in your apartment. Not a big deal, but I don't know what he will do if he finds out you aren't here. It could be well within his power to set the place on fire or do something else equally as destructive. Are you sure you are safe?"

"Locked up nice and tight."

"Good. What happened with the Office Romeo?"

"I met him coming back from the gun range. I wanted to get on the elevator. He refused to get off the elevator and so we were at an impasse. I didn't want to be in an elevator alone with him, nor did I want to take the stairs with the chance that he could follow me into the stairwell. Eduardo was monitoring the building and realized something was wrong. He got Miguel to cover for him and ran down the stairs to help. He kicked Adam off the elevator and rode up to the fifth floor with me. Then Miguel sat and had dinner with me before I came up to the apartment. It all turned out all right, but it was annoying while it was happening."

"Do you have any sense as to whether the Mysterious Romeo is the same person as your Office Romeo?"

"No, I don't. It is awfully coincidental that there are two Romeos in the same week, but I don't know how the Office Romeo could have recognized you or otherwise found out you were in the apartment."

"Unless he knew you were still at Rangeman, and he saw the lights on in your apartment and the shadows moving around the room."

"I guess that is possible."

"I wouldn't count the Office Romeo out as your Mysterious Romeo yet. What are you doing tonight?"

"I am going to sleep as soon as I hang up with you. I have to find Pilkin tomorrow, and Connie texted me to let me know she has another file for me." I said goodbye to Morelli and, putting my phone on the bedside table, I turned off the light.

* * *

Partway through the night a light turned on in the bathroom. "Ranger?" I asked.

"It better be", came his amused answer. "This is my apartment."

I rolled over and smiled sleepily at him. "It is nice to see you. How was your flight?"

"Good. Long, but uneventful."

"How was your trip?"

"Good. Too long, but uneventful. I'm glad to be home." He dropped his pants and stripped off his t-shirt, and suddenly I was very glad he was home as well. He turned off the light, got into bed, and rolled over to settle me, spoon fashion, in front of him. "This is the nicest welcome home present I've ever received", he said as his hand strayed up to hold my breast. He brushed aside my hair and kissed the back of my neck. I got goose bumps and my stomach muscles contracted. He kissed further down and…

Oh, boy.

* * *

"I wasn't sure if you would be at my apartment when I got back, Babe." He poured a cup of coffee for the two of us, and added cream to mine. "I missed you. I was intending to go straight from the airport to your apartment, but when I spoke to Tank he said you were here. He said you are having a problem with a Romeo?"

"I am." I took a sip of coffee and could feel the caffeine kick-start all the neurons that were still in an orgasmic afterglow. Ranger and I had made up for the lost time when he was away, the latest when we enjoyed partner showering this morning. My hair was still wet and I was wearing Ranger's housecoat. I dished out the plates of scrambled eggs, ham and toast, and glasses of orange juice that Ella, Ranger's housekeeper, chef and general staff mother, had brought up. "I have been getting text messages and flowers from someone. I don't know who he is though and he won't tell me. The guy said yesterday he was going to break into my place last night while I was sleeping. I decided to stay here instead and Morelli offered to stay in my apartment to wait for the guy. But I got a text message from the guy before I went to bed last night, and it said he knew Morelli was there and that he was not coming after all. He didn't seem to know I wasn't there. Morelli decided to stay overnight at my place anyway. I have not heard from him this morning as of yet to hear if he received another flower."

"Why don't you send a text to Morelli, and then if you wouldn't mind I would like to see the exchange of text messages with your Romeo."

I wrote a quick text to Morelli. _"Good morning. Did Romeo come last night? Did he leave any flowers for me this morning?"_

A minute or so later I got an answering text. _"Nope. All quiet here. Added another yellow rose to your growing bouquet. Note said you should get rid of me and that he could satisfy you so much better."_

"_Classy"_, I wrote back. _"Ranger is back in town. I am just going over everything that has happened about Romeo. He may want to talk to you."_

"_Will you tell him everything?"_

"_No. I am not going to talk to him about Office Romeo. I want to handle it myself."_

"_You are making a mistake"_, he replied.

Finishing up texting Morelli, I switched messages so that I could show Ranger the thread with my Mysterious Romeo. Reading it, he became very focused. "What has Morelli done on this so far?" he asked.

"Not much. I mentioned it in passing on the phone two days ago. Then, when I ran into him at the precinct yesterday, he asked how it was going with my Romeo. I showed him the thread and told him I was coming to stay at your place. He offered to act as the decoy in my absence. He doesn't know any more than I do, but I told him you may want to speak to him today."

"Do you have any idea who it could be?"

"I have a couple of ideas. One option is fairly harmless and is just someone I have to deal with myself. The other is more serious. The more serious one is Berginni, a skip that I picked up two or three days ago. He is eighteen and is wanted for two counts of attempted murder. Both were associated with unrequited love. One was the boyfriend of the girl that he liked; the second charge was for the girl that he liked after she told him to take a hike. Morelli spoke to him when I brought him into the station. He told Berginni I already had a boyfriend."

"Okay, now tell me about the harmless one."

"No. Because if I tell you the harmless one you will step in and fix it for me and I honestly think it would be better for me to deal with it myself. If I decide it isn't so harmless after all, I will let you know." Ranger's eyes grew tight and I could tell that he wasn't happy with my response. I leaned over and gave him a kiss. "I promise I will ask you for help if I need it."

I forked up my last mouthful of scrambled eggs and hoped I had been able to appease Ranger. I didn't want to put up with the harassment, but on the other hand, I didn't want to get Adam fired. And I knew Ranger would fire him on the spot if he thought Adam was bothering me at all.

"So how long are you planning on staying?" he asked.

I stood up to move my dirty plate and cutlery back onto the tray that Ella brought up. "That depends. When are you going to kick me out?"

He smiled one of his enigmatic half smiles. "Not today." He grabbed hold of the belt on the housecoat and pulled me over so that I was sitting on his lap. He gave me a kiss and, when our tongues touched, I forgot all about the two Romeos. I forgot everything and, if someone had asked, I'm not even sure I would have been able to tell them my own name. Ranger broke away, breathing hard. "I don't know how you do what you do to me." He rested his forehead on mine and steadied his breath. "I have a meeting with Tank in five minutes and I need to get ready. Are you available for lunch today?" We made arrangements to meet in Ranger's office at noon and then Ranger was gone. I took out my phone again and texted Lula. _"Ranger has just come home. I am sticking around Rangeman today. He wants to do some time in the gym with me – stretches, so fun :( __\- and I want to spend some time on the range. Romeo didn't show up last night. Morelli stayed over at my place waiting for him. I know Connie has a couple of new files for me to pick up. If you could please send the particulars I will research them today from Rangeman."_

A few minutes later I got a text from Lula saying _"Okay on you not coming in. I have been playing Tetris and I have a new high score to beat. I will send the info in a minute. Say hello to Mr. Mysterio for me. Ask him if he liked Suriname."_ I laughed, shook my head, put down my phone, and went to change into some clothes for the day.

* * *

I went down to my desk, meeting with Adam as I walked across the control room floor.

"Spicy Stephanie", he said in a booming voice, "I waited in the parking lot so that I could follow you home last night. I wanted to make sure you got home all safe and sound. You never know what can happen in the dark. But you must have stayed really late, or I missed you when I fell asleep in my car, because I didn't see you leave last night or even see you arrive this morning. You work too hard. You should let me take you out for a bit of fun."

"Thank you, but I'm not interested. And you shouldn't speak so loudly. It makes it hard for the monitoring staff."

"Monitoring is such an easy job. I don't see why the company caters to them. It's not like Sales. Now that's hard."

I was so angry I saw red. "Monitoring is the heart of the company. Without monitoring, there is no company. You would be useless because you would have nothing to sell." I grabbed my files from him and stalked back to my desk and sat down, turning on the computer.

"I didn't mean to make you angry, striking Stephanie", he said, following me back to my nook. "I was just trying to impress you. I guess I wasn't doing a very good job. I would just like to get to know you better. Will you please go out with me for dinner?"

"No, thanks. I already have plans."

"What about lunch then?"

"No, I already have plans for lunch as well."

"I just want to spend time with you." He came and stood behind me. I felt uncomfortable with him moving into my personal space like that, and tried to roll my desk chair away from him. I could not roll far. He had not left me much room to move.

"That's too bad. Why do you want to spend time with me, anyway?"

"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You are hot. That gun, that body, those lips. I want to jump you every time I see you. I imagine every guy in this building does."

"I appreciate the compliment in there somewhere, but I'm still not interested."

He put his hands on my shoulders and started to massage them. "Are you sure? I could make you feel so good."

I pushed my chair back over his toes as hard as I could and jumped up. "Out!" I said, pointing to the door. "Get out!" He slowly hobbled forward on his sore toes. "Now!" I said stalking him to the door. "And don't come back!"

"I'll be back as soon as you have calmed down. I guess it is your time of month. That's okay. I can deal. Don't worry. I don't take offense to this type of thing easily. I won't let it affect what we have, Stimulating Stephanie." He hobbled into the elevator and pushed the button for the second floor.

When the elevator doors closed, both Hal and Raphael started to clap. "Jeez, how thick do you think he is on a scale of one to ten? I mean, I can't tell you how many times I have told him that I am not interested. But I still don't think it has registered with him."

"Some guys are like that. They are just stupid. You should not have to put up with that kind of harassment, Steph. I really think you should talk to Ranger or Tank about this."

"I know you do. And if I continue to have problems getting through to this guy, I will. But in the meantime, I will continue to try myself." I walked back to my desk and looked at the eight new files Adam had brought up. I sighed and turned around to go to the break room. It was going to be a multi-coffee day.

* * *

At lunchtime I popped my head in to see Ranger. "Are you ready for lunch?" I asked.

"Yes. I just have to get something to eat from the break room."

"So do I." I waited for him and we walked down together. I got a salad with a low-fat Greek dressing, a package of bread sticks, and an apple juice. Ranger got a tuna salad sandwich, an apple, and a vanilla yogurt.

He looked surprised at my choices. "Still can't button your jeans?" he asked.

"No", I said in disgust.

"Don't worry. We are getting back into the gym this afternoon. Even though we can't do a full self-defence training session, the stretches will burn off some calories." Ranger followed me into his office, closing the door after himself. He sat down and opened up his sandwich. Taking a mouthful, he said "now tell me about Adam."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know, Adam. The guy from Sales who has been harassing you. Tell me what is going on."

"I want to handle this myself."

"We are handling this together. Above and beyond our own personal relationship is the fact that you are my employee and you deserve to come to work in a safe and secure environment. Having a fellow staff member harass you does not make your environment safe or secure. Now, tell me about Adam."

"First I want to know how you found out."

"Morelli told me initially. Then I called Hal in, then Miguel, then Raphael, then Eduardo, and they all told me the same thing. You had asked them not to tell because you were afraid I would fire Adam. They said you told him off rather spectacularly this morning, but that he said he would be back again once you calmed down. Something about it being your time of the month?"

"He said that because I rolled my chair over his toes when he came up behind me and started massaging my shoulders. I keep trying to get through to him but it doesn't seem to be working. I started out by being nice. This morning I was practically yelling at him as I was ordering him off the floor. I have gone far beyond being nice."

"Why don't you want me to fire him? The guys all said it would not be a loss to Rangeman if he left."

"I feel sorry for the guy. He is absolutely clueless. No one likes him. I don't know how he can do a good job in Sales with his low EQ. I suspect he is making files up for me to do and he isn't really doing anything with the information. Yesterday he had me research a company that doesn't exist. No address, phone number, registration or tax information. Nothing."

"What did he say when you called him on it?"

"I didn't. I chickened out and had Hal take the completed files down to Sales."

"Eduardo told me about the elevator incident."

"I know. I should be able to handle this better. I should be able to get through to him."

"From everything I have heard, you are handling yourself just fine. You are not at fault. Are there any other staff members causing you problems?"

"No. They are all like brothers to me. They are my teammates."

"And they think of you as a team member as well, as if you are a sister to them. All four of the guys were keeping silent like you had asked, but they weren't happy about it and were quite willing to open up when they realized I already knew. But", and Ranger's voice got really quiet, and that's when I knew he was really angry, "this type of behaviour can't go on. Sexual harassment is a crime and I cannot have one of my staff harassing another. Period. I appreciate you don't want him to lose his job over this. But from talking to Tank and the rest of the team, no one feels Adam is doing a very good job anyway. I fully intend to let him go this afternoon. Do you have any proof of the harassment?"

"Only a couple of notes that he wrote to me when he was dropping off files."

"I want to see those notes. And, depending upon what the notes say, I will decide whether I will call Morelli in to charge him with sexual harassment." He took his garbage and dumped it in the trash can. I finished my salad, dipping my last breadstick in the leftover dressing.

"Morelli has a big mouth", I grumbled.

"Morelli cares about you and wants what is best for you. Now go get those notes."

I got up and walked back to my desk. I pulled out the file containing the two notes and walked back to Ranger's office. Dropping it in front of him, I sat back down and drank my apple juice.

"This is borderline for me", said Ranger. "I am quite happy calling in Morelli to charge Adam. I don't want him to have the chance to harass someone else, someone who may not have as strong and protective a team behind them. But I know you have concerns. I will leave it up to you. Either way, he is getting fired today. Should we charge him as well?"

"No. I feel like this is my fault."

"Did you do anything to deserve this? Were you encouraging him? Leaving him notes? Leading him on?"

"I don't think so. I don't know. What if something I did led him to believe that I welcomed his attentions?"

"Did you do something different with him than you do with any other staff member?"

"Not at first. After I realized there was a problem I was more forceful in trying to deflect his attentions."

"No one else on staff has misinterpreted your actions or behaviour as being suggestive or encouraging. Only him. That means the problem is with him and not you. This is not your fault, Babe. There was nothing you could have done to deflect this. You do not deserve this. And as your employer, I am going to make sure it will never happen again. The more I talk to you, the more I think we should get him charged with harassment. I really don't want to see him do this to another person."

"I don't know if we could. It has only been going on for a couple of days."

"Morelli could make the charges stick."

"I don't want to go there. I am not even happy about having him lose his job."

"All right. We will go with the medium option. He will get fired this afternoon for both the harassment and the incompetence but he won't be charged." He got up and came over to me, pulled me up into his arms. Placing his hand on my lower back and pulling me in until I had physical proof that he was no longer thinking about Adam, he gave me a kiss that made me forget all my problems. After a few minutes he pulled back. "I made it a personal policy to never have sex in my office a long time ago. I would never be able to get any work done afterwards as I would always be remembering the sexy times. You are making me reconsider."

"Do you want to go upstairs then?"

He smiled and sighed. "I would love to, but after being away for the last week I can't afford to be out of the office for the afternoon. And it would take me all afternoon to do what I am thinking of doing to you."

I leaned into him and gave him another kiss. "I could make you change your mind."

"You could, but you won't. I have time at four o'clock to do stretches with you. We don't need to close down the gym. We can do them in the apartment. Can you wear that workout outfit you wore that other time? I have been having fantasies about that outfit." Usually, when I work out in the gym with Ranger I just strip down to my sports bra and leave on my pants and work out that way. However, I noticed that I was getting some attention from the rest of the staff and Ranger was not comfortable with it. So I wore proper workout gear to the gym – a pair of T&amp;A shorts and a tight workout top. Apparently that was worse for Ranger's blood pressure. He took one look at me, shut down the gym for the hour and a half we were working out, and scrambled the feed to the security cameras. He asked me to never wear that outfit in the gym again.

I smiled. "You are having fantasies about me?"

"Oh, yeah." He gave me a quick kiss on the lips and pulled back from me regretfully. "I will tell you about them later."

* * *

I worked on the two new files for Vinnie for part of the afternoon before switching over to work on the files from Sales. As I was working on the Rangeman files, Adam came to my desk. "I am sorry that I upset you this morning. It is just that I love you so much and I want to be with you. I could make you love me, too." He reached down and grabbed his crotch, lifting his balls with one hand. "You would love to be with me. I know how to treat a lady right."

"That may be, but I'm still not interested."

"I have written you a poem. Would you like to hear it?"

"No", I said. I saw Ranger come up behind Adam in his cat-like quiet way.

"I will read it for you anyway", Adam said. "Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and I want to do you."

"Attractive, but I'm still not interested in you."

"What about this poem?

"Striking Stephanie,

With your eyes like fire,

They sparkle and flash,

And fill me with desire.

Sexy Stephanie,

With your body so hot,

You fill my heart,

Even when you say not.

Stunning Stephanie,

With your lips so pretty,

You are by far,

The most beautiful in the city.

Splendid Stephanie,

I don't see,

Why you won't,

Go out with me.

Superb Stephanie,

I could make you feel so good,

You should go out with me,

I really think you should.

Sparkling Stephanie,

With eyes so blue,

No matter what you say,

I will come after you."

As he finished and handed me the paper copy of the poem, I was looking at him with my mouth hanging open. "I am still not interested in you."

Ranger walked a step closer to Adam and said quietly in his ear "Adam, my office, now."

"Just a minute, Ranger. Stephanie and I were about to arrange a date time."

"Adam, I don't think you understand. I want you in my office _now_." When Adam still resisted, Ranger grabbed him by the arm, twisted his arm up behind his back, and marched him off to his office. Tank materialized beside Ranger and followed them in before he shut the door.

Fifteen minutes later Tank and Adam emerged from the office and I knew Tank was walking Adam down to the Sales department to clear out his desk. Several minutes later Tank came back up to the control room. He walked over to my desk. "It is done", he said. "He should have been shot. I wanted to, but Ranger said that would upset you."

"The firing went that badly?"

"No, I was just thinking he should have been shot for the quality of poetry he created." Tank smiled, turned around, and walked into Ranger's office.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine **

I settled down beside Ranger, cuddled into his side as we watched TV that night. "Ranger, you said when you left that you wanted to speak to me."

"I do, but I am enjoying this time with you too much right now to want to interrupt it. Just give me the one night first before I talk to you."

"Will it be bad, what you are planning on talking to me about?"

"It is neutral, neither bad nor good. But it will be a big conversation and with having such an active night last night, I am tired. I don't feel up to it this evening."

"Okay, but my interest is piqued. I have been able to think of little else since you left."

"I am sorry I mentioned it. It wasn't very fair of me."

"It's all right. I am just curious and a little anxious. Instead, can you tell me about how it went with Adam?"

"Yes. Tank and I spoke to him together. I told him that his performance around the office was substandard and his interactions with staff were inappropriate. When he asked me what was inappropriate, I said that writing sexual poetry about someone and badgering them to go out was not acceptable, as is not respecting all members of the team. Tank also outlined some examples of instances where his work was not up to par. I turned out his pockets and took away his pass key and two jump drives. I then searched the jump drives and found that all the information on them was company information. I don't know what he was planning on doing with it. I doubt he was taking it home to work on after hours. I am glad he is gone. He wasn't our wisest hiring decision."

"As much as I hate to say this, I am glad he is gone as well. I worry about the fact that he now does not have a job, but am happy I don't have to deal with him anymore."

"You should never have to put up with that kind of harassment, ever. You don't deserve it. Just because you were born with two 'X' chromosomes does not make you a fair target. If you ever have a problem with anyone else in the office, I want to hear about it immediately. No trying to solve the problem yourself. All right?"

"All right."

"Morelli said he is staying at your place again tonight to see if he could draw out your admirer. I am not sure if your mysterious admirer is Adam, though. Adam seems like the kind of person who would not want to remain mysterious. He seems like the kind of person who would want to take credit for his attentions. I personally suspect you have two Romeos at work."

"Great."

"Of course, that is all ignoring the fact that you have me as another Romeo", he said. His hand came up and grazed my breast, and my breath immediately started coming faster and my heart started to pound. He pulled me into my lap, saying "I hope my attentions are wanted more than the other guys." He kissed me deeply and my last thought before I descended into bliss was "hell, yeah."

The next morning, after a very active night, Ranger kissed me awake with a cup of coffee for me in hand. I was slow to wake.

"Come on, sleepyhead. The day is a'wastin'. It is beautiful and sunny out. Your phone has been pinging like crazy. It is time to get the day started."

I slowly sat up and pushed my hair out of my eyes. "How is it that we can make love multiple times at night and, despite your lack of sleep, you wake up energized and happy, when I have trouble waking up and require copious amounts of coffee?" I asked, eyes still closed.

"I am a morning person and you are not." He held out my coffee to me and wrapped my hands around the mug. I pried my eyes open.

"My God, you are even showered and dressed? What time is it?"

"It is eight o'clock. Breakfast time. I tried to let you sleep in as late as possible."

"What time did you get up?"

"I was up at five. You didn't even stir when I got out of bed. I have already had a workout, showered, did some work in the office, and now it is time for you to get up."

I drank my coffee. As I did so, the caffeine started the synapses firing. "Do I have time for a shower?"

"No. Ella brought up breakfast a few minutes ago and it is getting cold. We are having egg white omelets with peppers, cheese and ham, and toast. Now get your phone. I want to know whether Morelli was able to catch your Romeo."

I hauled myself out of bed and put on Ranger's housecoat, picked up my phone and walked through to the breakfast bar. I sat down, still sleepy, and finished my coffee in silence. I got up and poured myself a fresh cup, then opened up my message centre to see that I had five texts. The first was from Lula. _"Not feeling well today. Must be something I ate. Can we go skip chasing tomorrow?"_ I wrote back _"no problem. Feel better."_ I got a text from Morelli. _"All quiet at your apartment last night. No luck catching the guy although he left another flower this morning. I don't have the resources to video monitor your door. I will talk to Ranger this morning."_

"Morelli says that he didn't catch the guy and wants to talk to you today about the possibility of having Rangeman video monitor the door to see if we can catch him that way."

"That's a good idea. I will talk to him later."

I also had three messages, two from one unknown number and the third from a second unknown number. The two were from my Mysterious Romeo. The first of these messages was _"did you like my flower this morning? We won't be apart too much longer. I can wait until you need to come out of the building. I know you are in there."_ The second message was _"I heard you had a boyfriend, but I didn't realize it was the cop. I am better than him. With time I can show you how much better. It won't be long until we satisfy our hearts and are together again."_

I sent a message to Morelli with a screen shot of the thread with the message "_you've been made."_

I read the final message from the new unknown number. _"I know you want to be with me. I could read it in your eyes. We will be together soon and will be able to investigate our mutual love."_ I handed my phone over to Ranger. "I think I have two Romeos. They are similar messages, but are from different phones."

"I do not want to discount the possibility that you have two Romeos, but they may also be the same person as well. We should not close our eyes to any scenario yet. I will talk to Morelli today to devise an action plan. In the meantime, are you planning on staying in the building today or going out to work for Vinnie?"

"Lula is sick and I suspect that I will have to do a stakeout to catch my remaining skip from my old list, and I don't want to do it alone as it is too boring. I would also like back up for the capture of the two felons on my new list. So I guess that is a long way for me to say I will hang around Rangeman for the day and will go out skip chasing tomorrow when Lula feels better."

"That's good. Can you also trace the phone numbers for each of your Romeos? If you can do that first thing I will be able to get that information to Morelli when I call him later. And then perhaps we can have lunch together?"

"Sounds good. What do you have planned for today?"

"I have a debriefing session over the phone this morning based on what happened when I was away. This afternoon I am working with Tank and the Head of Sales to revise the job description for Adam's old job as well as to develop some interview questions for hiring someone new into the position. I also have a couple of new clients to work on developing systems for. Then, at four o'clock, I am available to work more on stretching with you again. We will do that up here."

"Will we actually stretch this time? We didn't get much stretching done last night."

Ranger smiled. "No, but we had a much more enjoyable workout."

* * *

Both the numbers were from burned phones and were untraceable. I took the information in to him. "Good timing. I was just about to call Morelli", he said. "Do you want to stay for the call?"

I sat down as Ranger called Morelli's number. When Morelli answered, Ranger said "Stephanie and I are here together to speak to you. What do you think about the three newest messages Stephanie received this morning?"

"I think this guy is developing an unhealthy obsession over Stephanie. I suspect that we are talking about two guys, although I am not discounting the possibility that there is only one guy. Cupcake, I want to be kept informed of any future text messages you get. How did it go yesterday with the Office Romeo?"

"I fired him both for inappropriate behaviour as well as substandard performance and Tank walked him out of the building twenty minutes later", said Ranger.

"What other cases do you have open, Steph?" asked Morelli.

"I have Blowjob Boy and two new ones I have not yet tackled. I just got them yesterday and have not had a chance to do anything more than research on them."

"Blowjob Boy?" asked Ranger and Morelli at the same time.

"Yeah. He was getting a BJ while he was driving his car and, when he came, he jerked his car into oncoming traffic. His airbag deployed and snapped his girlfriend's neck, killing her instantly. He is up for vehicular manslaughter."

"I often find it amazing to hear what people will do. Getting a blowjob while you are driving", said Morelli.

Ranger was laughing. "That's bad luck."

"Do you think he could be the person behind the messages?" asked Morelli.

I thought for a minute. "It doesn't feel right. I haven't been able to get eyes on him and it seems like this person has at least talked to me. He said he heard I had a boyfriend so that information had to have come from someone, whether it was from me personally or through someone else."

"Can you think of anyone you have dealt with in the recent past that might have developed an obsession on you?" asked Morelli.

"Only Berginni and Adam. The only other person I can see being enamoured with me was a senior and he seemed more interested in hearing Lula's stories about being a 'ho than he did in me personally."

"Did you buy anything for any of your skips recently, which may have led to them misunderstanding your intentions?" asked Morelli.

"You buy presents for your skips?" asked Ranger.

"Not really. It's not like I buy them birthday and Christmas gifts. I bought Willy Fish lunch, as well as lunch Clare Harlon. Both of those people were seniors and I didn't want them going hungry when they were waiting to be rebonded out. But both of them are sweethearts and I don't think either of them would hurt a fly. They are just looking for some excitement in their lives and that's why they got in trouble with the law.I bought a baconator for another skip who was having pregnancy bacon cravings, but I don't think she's our Romeo either. I also bought a loofah sponge, apricot scrub and body lotion for Tony Testler. He is a repeat offender. He likes to impersonate a police officer. His dream is to try to impress the police department with his skills enough so that the police department will hire him. When he is dressed up as a police officer he tries to collect money on the spot for fake tickets. He then donates the money to the police association. He is harmless."

"Why did you buy him bath products?" asked Ranger, resigned. "Do I want to know?"

"He had given himself a fake tan from a bottle and it didn't work out the way he thought it would. He was rather orange. Lula and I told him that he would be able to wash it off using a loofah sponge. When I sent Lula into the drug store with a twenty dollar bill to buy the sponge, Lula came out with the scrub and lotion as well. She said they were all on sale and might help Tony out as well. So Tony got all three bath products for the price of a trip to the precinct. I don't think he is our guy. After my experiences with him and my talk with him about how he should give up and settle on being the best security guard that he could be, I can more see him trying to talk me into letting him help out as a bounty hunter than I can see him pursuing me. He already has his obsession and that's becoming a police officer. Switching his obsession to being a bounty hunter, sure. But to me? No way."

"I will talk to him anyway", said Morelli.

"Morelli, you mentioned getting video surveillance on Stephanie's door to try to see who was dropping off the flowers and notes. I will get Hector on that today. Are you planning on staying at Stephanie's again tonight?"

"I think I will try it one more night and see where that leaves us. I don't think it will be useful after one more night. Will the control room be monitoring the feed?"

"Yes, I will arrange it so that the feed will be monitored."

"Good. If the control room can call me when the flowers are being left I will be able to leave the apartment right away to try to capture the guy."

"I will let the control room know."

"Cupcake, try to think about any other people you have come in contact with recently who seemed overly interested in you, or whose appreciation of you seemed out of line with what you expected."

I heard a ping and checked my text messages. "Okay, I will. And I just received a text message from the new Romeo. It says _'you have given my life new meaning. I was floating until I met you and now I have purpose. I love you.'_"

"I am not comfortable with the tone of his messages. It sounds like the kind of obsession that will quickly turn violent when he understands you are not available. Are you working outside Rangeman this week?" asked Morelli.

"I am here today although Lula and I plan on going out tomorrow."

"Stay aware and stay safe. Call me if you need any help, and send me screenshots of both your text messages as they come in as well as your responses when they go out. I want to keep on top of this", said Morelli.

"Will do."

"And Ranger, can you please make sure she keeps in contact with me about this? I don't want another Adam situation where she doesn't want to tell us because she wants to handle it herself."

"She will send you the info", said Ranger. "Right, Babe?"

I made a face at him, and received a smile in return. "Absolutely", I said.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten **

Later on that day, I checked my bank balance. My pay from Rangeman had gone in, and I was checking to make sure that I had enough in my account to pay Ranger for the bodywork. I did, and wrote out the cheque to Rangeman, attaching it to the copy of the bill I had finagled out of accounting. I took the elevator down to accounting and dropped it on it on the bookkeeper's desk. I came back upstairs, headed into the break room, grabbed some lunch, and took it to Ranger's office.

"I already got my lunch", I said to Ranger.

"That's good. I have mine as well." We had both selected sandwiches, although I had paired mine with a strawberry and yogurt parfait while Ranger had chosen a container of cut vegetables and dip. Sitting down at his conference table, he asked me whether I had received any more text messages.

"No", I replied. "Although my phone pinged while I was getting lunch and I have not checked messages yet." I pulled out my phone. "Okay, this message is from the second Romeo. It says _"I miss seeing you. I hope you miss me, too."_ I sent a screenshot to Morelli, and then replied with _"who are you?"_

Within seconds I got the answer _"someone who has admired you from afar for some time, and has only recently become acquainted with you. I love you."_

I wrote back _"you are obsessed. Go away."_ I sent the screenshot to Morelli.

"_You cannot mean that. We are meant to be together. I knew the first time I saw you, and I know you feel it too. I can see it in your eyes whenever I look at you"_ was his reply.

I responded with _"I really don't know who you are. Doesn't that tell you something?"_

My phone pinged again. _"It just tells me you don't realize the depth of our love yet. You will, given time. I will come to take you away soon and we will have the time to get to know each other better."_

"Now it's getting creepy", I said to Ranger.

"Really? Just now?" he asked. "I thought it got creepy a while ago."

"_I don't talk to strangers",_ I wrote back. I didn't hear anything back from the guy, so I sent the series of screenshots to Morelli.

A few minutes later Morelli sent a text to me. _"Thanks for the screenshots. Adding them to your growing file. Be careful when you leave Rangeman. This guy is a real wacko." _

I finished my lunch, throwing my garbage into Ranger's trash bin.

"How do you feel about all this?" asked Ranger.

"I am a little unsettled about it all. There is the fact that I have not one, but probably two obsessed men in my life which is upsetting. And then there is the nature of the messages. The threat to kidnap me, the insistence that they love me, the not knowing who the people are who are sending me these messages. Yeah, I am definitely unsettled."

"Good. If you are unsettled, you will be careful." He stood up and walked over to me. He gathered me into a hug. "It is important to be vigilant, Babe."

"I am vigilant."

"You try to be. But you need to be better. You always have to have your back to the wall, you always need to be fully aware of your surroundings, of what people are doing around you. That is not something you were brought up needing to know. Now you need to know this. You need to know it for your job, and you need to know it because…" his voice trailed off as his phone rang. "Excuse me", he said, and answered the phone. His voice immediately took on a serious tone and his face became all business-like. Speaking in rapid-fire Spanish, he held a five-minute conversation. By the time he got off the phone he had distanced himself emotionally from me, and had morphed from my supportive friend and periodic lover to an army staff sergeant, tight and focused on his mission. He picked up his intercom and called Tank into his office before turning to me. "An emergency has come up. I will be out of town for several days, maybe even weeks. I have absolutely no idea how long I will be gone. I hope it won't be long, but it will depend solely upon how well this emergency resolves itself. I definitely won't be able to call you at the beginning of my trip, but I should be able to call you just before I come home to let you know that I am coming. Please stay in my apartment while I am away. I don't want to be worrying about you in your apartment without proper backup while I am away on my own emergency, all right? Can I get your agreement on that?"

Wishing that I understood what was going on, I agreed to stay in his apartment.

"I know this is hard for you, not knowing. I will explain everything when I get back, Babe. I just don't have time to do so right now. I will let Tank know what is going on with your Romeos while he drives me to the airport. Keep him in the loop. Don't hold back information again, like you did with Adam. Do I have your agreement on that?"

"Okay", I said. I went over to him and gave him a hug. "Be safe."

His arms wrapped around me, and he leaned down and gave me a deep kiss. He broke away when Tank came to the door. "I was going to say the same thing to you. Stay aware and be safe." Then with a final quick kiss, he turned to Tank and said "I have to go out of town for a while. I will need a ride to the airport. I will fill you in on what is happening with Stephanie and the files that are on my desk while I pack and on the way to the airport. There are items for you to follow up on while I am away. There will be private plane waiting at the airport for me in half an hour, so I don't have a lot of time." Tank followed him out the door, up to the apartment, leaving me feeling lost and confused in Ranger's office.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven **

I finished off the files from Sales that afternoon and researched Vinnie's two new files. Finishing my day early, I grabbed a box of bullets from the storeroom and went down to the gun range to practice for an hour. I was pleased to see that the groupings were getting tighter. I wanted to let Ranger know but could not and I felt sad again. No matter how soon Ranger returned, it was going to seem like a long time. I could only hope it would be days and not weeks before he came back.

I went up to the apartment and decided to clean Rex's cage. I went down to the shredder and gathered a bag of clean shred, then went back up to the apartment. I put the stopper in the kitchen sink, then put Rex in. I emptied the soup can out of Rex's stash of hidden treats and put the can on the counter. I took out Rex's wheel, water bottle and food dish, and put those on the counter as well. Then, I got a garbage bag from under the sink and dumped in the used cedar shavings. I got a paper towel and washed the inside of the cage, then populated the cage with clean paper shred. I washed out the soup can and cleaned off the wheel, the water bottle and the food dish, changed the water in the bottle, and put them all back in the cage. I returned Rex to the cage and moved his cage back to its original place in the corner of the kitchen. Finally, using the bleach spray that I found under the kitchen sink, I cleaned off the counter and the sink, throwing my used paper towels into the garbage with the cedar shavings.

That had killed half an hour, thank goodness, and it was almost time for dinner. I washed my hands and headed down to the break room looking for some company. I ran into Tank down there. "How is it going?" he asked.

"Fine. Just a little off balanced because I don't know what to do with myself. I hate not knowing what is going on. Do you know what is going on?"

"Yes. Bad business."

"Can you tell me?"

"No. It's not my place. It's Ranger's place. He will explain things when he gets back. Have you heard any more from your Romeo?"

"Yes. I sent the screenshot to Morelli." I read out the text. _"I am beginning to wonder if you are in your apartment. I have not seen either you or your car in days, but my flowers keep disappearing. Where are you? I won't leave a flower tonight. _There was a second text, send a minute later. _I don't know where you are, but I will find you. You are meant for me, and we are meant to be together. I love you."_ That's from the first Romeo, the Mysterious Romeo. I sent him a text back. I asked who he was again. I haven't heard from him since.

"I also received a text from the second Romeo. I don't know what to call this one. Originally I had labelled the two Romeos as Mysterious Romeo and Office Romeo, but now Office Romeo might be gone and new Romeo who might be Office Romeo is in his place. It is getting confusing." I looked at Tank, and he was just sitting listening to me babble, waiting for me to get to the point. "Anyway, the text said _'I know you are holed up in the Rangeman offices. You have to come out sometime, my beautiful bounty hunter. And when you do, you will discover our love and we will be together forever.'_ I again asked him who he was, and he did not answer me either."

"Are you still planning on going out skip chasing tomorrow? Ranger mentioned that you might have a surveillance to do?"

"Yes. I have arranged to pick up Lula at seven and we are going over to the skip's house to try to catch him before he heads out for the day. I spoke to his sister this afternoon and she said she spoke to her brother on the phone, and he indicated he was planning on coming home tomorrow to pick up his severance cheque from his employer."

"I would like you to take Ranger's Cayenne. One or more of these Romeos knows your car, and I do not want them following you and kidnapping you out from under Lula's nose."

"Yeah, that would suck. I would lose my skip that way." Tank just looked at me, shook his head, and walked away.

* * *

I selected my meal of beef chili with a bun and a side salad with a cranberry juice, and sat down at a table in the corner to eat. No one came into the break room while I was eating dinner, however, so my hope to divert my attention away from my worries did not work. Finishing my meal, I put my bowl in the bin with the other dirty dishes and took the rest of the cranberry juice up to the apartment.

I was antsy. I was worried about Ranger, and I was worried about the two Romeos. I decided to call my parents to see if my mother was speaking to me again. She answered on the first ring.

"Hi, Mom. How are you?"

"Stephanie! It is nice to hear from you. I haven't talked to you in days."

"I've been busy." I didn't know if my mother meant to or not, but whenever I spoke to her I felt guilty. I call it my culpability call and was instantly put on the defensive.

"What have you been doing?"

"Just the usual. Work, work, work."

"How is your rib?"

"Much better. It doesn't hurt nearly so much. Ranger had me doing stretches this week. In another couple of weeks he will have me training again."

"What are you doing in training?"

"Ranger has been teaching me self-defence moves and I have been practicing in the shooting range. My aim is getting much better."

"For the love of God, Stephanie, I wish you would get a job where you didn't have to know how to shoot a gun."

"Self-defence lessons are always good, though. You could be coming out of the grocery store and have someone try to mug you, and it would be beneficial to have self-defence skills. It would be good for you to take a course in self-defence yourself."

"I know you are right, but I prefer to bury my head in the sand and think that nothing will happen to me. What is this world coming to? I often wonder what it will be like for your nieces. It is already a different world than when I was raising you. It is a much more dangerous place than when you were growing up and there are that many more things to worry about. Valerie's girls are still young, but the oldest ones are entering their teenage years soon and it all starts in the teenage years. The drugs, the alcohol, the sex. I was lucky with you two. It wasn't until you were in your twenties and you started being a bounty hunter that I became worried about you."

"There is no need to worry, Mom. I have everything well in hand and I have a lot of friends to help me."

"You don't have it well in hand, though. You have been shot, stabbed, broken bones, and were bruised and battered, all in the line of duty. Do you see why I worry about you? I brought you into this world and I would prefer not to see you out."

I didn't have anything to say to that. "How's Dad?"

"Good. He picked up another regular fare in the mornings so he is gone even earlier. It has eased the rush for the bathroom. Your father and your grandmother aren't fighting over it the same." My father, when he retired from the post office, had the choice of either killing his mother-in-law or taking another job. He decided to become a cab driver. He has a few regular fares in the morning and again in the evening, and the rest of his time he spends in his social club.

"How is Grandma?"

"Good. Getting into trouble like always. Yesterday she was at the hair salon and she got into a fight with Grandma Bella." Grandma Bella was Joe's grandmother. "Grandma Bella said something nasty about you for breaking up with Joe and your grandmother didn't like what she said. So she messed up Grandma Bella's newly set hair. Grandma Bella gave your grandmother a black eye. She looks like a mess. I swear she is getting younger in spirit instead of older. She is more trouble than you and Valerie were put together when you were younger."

Changing the subject, I said "how is Val?"

"Everybody is good. Mary Alice has decided that she might not be a horse after all." For a few years now Mary Alice has thought that she was a horse. This had led to a lot of neighing and foot stamping when she was angry. "They are coming for dinner on Friday. Why don't you come? Everybody would be happy to see you."

"I'll see what I can do. I'm in the middle of something at work here, so I can't promise anything."

"I will make enough for you and just hope you show up. Do you think you might want to bring Joe?"

"Mom, I told you. Joe and I are just friends now. That means he won't be coming over for dinner anymore."

"That's too bad. I will make enough for Joe as well in case you invite him after all. He is a keeper. I liked him."

"You didn't always."

"No, I didn't always like him. He used to be a loser. But after his stint in the military he cleaned up his act and he has been a model citizen since he came home. He even has his own house."

"There is potential everywhere, Mom. Sometimes you just have to look for it."

"That's true."

Seeing that this conversation had the potential to degrade really fast, I said goodbye and hung up the phone. I checked my messages. Nothing. Which was great that I did not have any messages from my Romeos, but I felt a bit of a letdown anyway. Even though he had said that he would be out of contact, I had hoped for a message from Ranger.

It was still too early to go to bed, so I called Joe. "I just wanted to know how the stakeout is going", I said.

"Good. It is quiet. Rangeman is monitoring the front door and I haven't heard anything from them. I don't want to be on the phone long in case they are trying to get through. How are you?"

"Okay. I'm bored. Ranger left again for a few days, there is nothing on TV, and I am caught up on my work. I have already been to the gun range today and I have cleaned Rex's cage."

"I don't think it is a good idea for you to come on over."

"I'm not asking to. I promised Ranger that I would stay at Rangeman until he gets back. He might not be back for a few weeks, so I will be here for a while. And Tank has requested that I take Ranger's car when I go to try to capture Pilkin tomorrow so that I am not as visible as I would be in my own car. I just wanted to talk to a friendly voice. I just finished talking to my mother, so a friendly voice is a nice change."

"How is your mother?"

"Okay. She's your biggest fan these days."

"That is nice. It is always good to have fans. I would love to talk more, but I want to keep the phone lines open. Text me if you get any more messages. Otherwise, I will be here with Bob. Have a good sleep."

"You, too." I hung up the phone and, still feeling unsettled, had a long hot shower. Smelling the scent of Ranger's shower gel settled me a bit, and the hot water and memories of the showers I had taken with Ranger over the last couple of days worked to relax me. After I got out of the shower and blew my hair dry, I put on a clean pair of underwear and one of Ranger's t-shirts as a nightshirt, and went to bed. I curled up in a tiny ball, moved over to Ranger's side of the bed and smelled his scent on his pillow. Comforted, I fell asleep wondering what he was doing right then.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve **

I checked my texts. I got one from Morelli. _"All quiet here overnight. No flowers, no calls from Rangeman. No intruders. Send copies of texts to me as soon as you get them. Bob and I are going home tonight. Bob misses his backyard."_

I wrote a response to Morelli. _"Thanks for trying. Give Bob a hug for me."_

I pulled some bread from the freezer and put it in the toaster, and got my peanut butter out of the cupboard. Much like I have my own drawer in the bathroom stocked with my supplies, I also have my own shelf in Ranger's kitchen. It doesn't have much on it, just my jar of peanut butter, a few packages of TastyKakes that I snuck in, and a couple of chocolate bars that Ranger asked Ella to sneak in. The toast popped as I rooted around in the fridge for the jar of olives. Not exactly breakfast food, but a peanut butter and olive sandwich is good any time of the day.

I poured myself a coffee and added cream. Then, because there is always something lonely about eating by yourself sitting down, I ate my meal standing up. I saved a corner of my sandwich for Rex. I put it in his dish. He scurried out and stared at me for a second, stuffed the bread in his cheek pouch, looked at me again with his whiskers twitching, then hurried back into his hidey hole. Gratitude in hamster language.

My phone pinged twice more. I checked my messages. I had the text _"I will find you sooner or later. We will be together forever. I love you"_ from the first Romeo. I had the text _"I know you are waiting for me to take you away from all your responsibilities. You work too hard. I will come for you soon"_ from the second Romeo. I screenshotted both of them and sent them to Morelli with the message _"I will be careful"_.

* * *

I picked up Lula at the office. She hopped in the car. "Nice wheels. Why are we going incognito today? Does Ranger know you have his car?"

"Ranger is in the wind again. He asked me to stay at his place when he is gone. I am having a problem with the two Romeos. Tank asked me to drive Ranger's car today so we would not be so visible. As far as I can tell, we don't have a tail on us."

"I knew Ranger wasn't here. I saw on the news that the military regime is overthrowing the government in Suriname. I am surprised he came home. I am sure they want him to lead the charge."

"He isn't there to overthrow the government."

"You think he is there to support the government? He isn't doing a very good job. No wonder they called him back."

"NO! I don't think he is in Suriname at all!"

"Hunh. Then where is he?"

"I don't know. In the wind was all he said."

"I would insist upon knowing if I were you. I would be too curious to put up with that shit. It's the not knowing that would get to me."

"I hear you. I don't like it any better. But Ranger will always have boundaries and he will always have secrets, and I will always have to respect them. That is just the way it is."

"Hunh. I couldn't do it. You still look really happy. Is Morelli back on the scene? Are you getting some with him?"

"No, Morelli and I are still splitsville. I just had a couple of really good days with Ranger." I smiled in memory.

"Oh, yeah, they must have been good days to make you smile like that. I am envious. I don't think I have ever smiled like that."

I laughed and drove through a drive through doughnut shop to pick up our standard surveillance fare – a small coffee each and a dozen assorted doughnuts. Having fortified ourselves for the day, I drove to Pilkin's house. Parking the car one house down the street, we went up to the Pilkin residence and rang the doorbell. We waited for a few minutes, then rang the doorbell again. Finally, we heard footsteps approaching the door. Marie opened it, hair tousled as she wrapped a housecoat around herself. "Good morning", I said. "Has your brother come home yet?"

She pushed her hair from her face. "No, he didn't come home last night. His cheque is still here, though, so I expect him home today. Are you going to wait?"

"Yes, we will wait in our car."

"He should be here soon."

* * *

Four hours later I was glad I hadn't finished my coffee. Lula's bladder was bursting and I suggested that she knock on the Pilkin's door to see if she could use their bathroom. She was so desperate she hopped out of the car and ran up to the house. Marie looked surprised, but let Lula in the house.

While Lula was in the house, Pilkin drove his car into the driveway. He entered the house and, while he was there, I inched Ranger's Cayenne up until it covered the bottom of the Pilkin's driveway. Getting out of the car, I made sure my cuffs were tucked into my back waistband and my pepper spray was in the pocket on my hoody. I walked up to the front and rang the doorbell.

Marie came to the door just as Lula came out of the hall bathroom. "Did I see Gavin arrive?"

"Yes. He is in the upstairs bathroom."

I listened, but I could not hear any bathroom noises. "Would you please go and ask him if he is all right?" I asked.

Marie went to the bathroom door, and I could hear her ask her brother if he was all right. There was no answer. I asked her to knock on the door. There was no answer. I then asked her to open the door and see if he was inside. She did so. "There is nobody here", she said, surprised.

I ran outside, just in time to see Pilkin frantically reversing down the driveway. He got to the end and tried to swerve around Ranger's car. He did this with limited success. He bounced his car over the curb and moved past the Cayenne, smashing in the front right corner as he did so. Pieces of headlight shattered onto the ground as Pilkin straightened the car out on the road and quickly sped away before I could get into Ranger's car to follow him.

I looked at it, not believing that I had damaged another one of Ranger's cars. Lula and Marie came and looked at the damage over my shoulder. "Ohmygod", exclaimed Marie. "Did my brother do that? Are you going to charge this to me? I don't have the money for this. All my money is being taken up by Gavin's lawyer's fees."

Lula looked at the damage as well. "Damn, sucks to be you. At least this one isn't as hurt as Ranger's Porsche Turbo was when the garbage truck landed on it and it exploded. That was hurt beyond repair. This one is repairable. Do you want to call the police on this?"

"No, these are Ranger's cars, remember? I'm not sure if it is such a good idea to have close scrutiny of his cars by the police. I think they would stand up to examination, but since I am not one hundred percent sure, I would rather they weren't involved. I will call Tank." I took a deep breath and, summoning up my courage, called into the office.

"Hey, Tank. Remember how you told me to take Ranger's car today?" There was a silence on the end of the phone. Lula was looking at me with her thumbs in the air. "Well, I should have taken my own. The skip we had under surveillance just drove into the car. It is totally drivable, but it is missing a front headlight on the right side, and the bumper is hanging off the car. Where would you like me to take it to get it repaired?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Are you finished surveillance today?"

"Yes."

"I will send a couple of patrol guys out to you. You can take the fleet car and they will take care of Ranger's car for you."

I thanked Tank and hung up. Turning to Lula, I told her a couple of staff would exchange cars with us and they would take the car in to be repaired.

"Damn", she said. "Working at Rangeman gives you all the perks. I wish I had cars at the ready like you do. 'Course, I don't need to have cars at the ready. I don't have as many car accidents." And it's true. With a history of car explosions, vandalism, theft and accidents – never my fault, of course – I have frequently needed to borrow a car from Ranger. I have had such a strong history of car incidents that the staff at Rangeman started a pool a long time ago predicting when my next car incident would occur. I wondered who would win this time.

I turned to Marie, who was still staring at the damage and wringing her hands, and said "when do you think your brother will return?"

"I don't know." She dashed inside the house, then came out again. "He took the cheque, so I don't know when to expect him back again."

"Have you thought of any names of his honeys, or any friends that he might be hiding out with?" I asked.

"There is one guy that he might be staying with. His name is Keith O'Connor. I don't know where he lives."

"You obviously had a phone number or way of contacting your brother to be able to tell him that he had a cheque waiting for him. In the interests of not losing your house, are you willing to share that information with us now?" When she hesitated, I said "I know you weren't willing to share that information before, but things just got a whole lot more serious this morning. Not only are the police and the bonds office after him for skipping out on his court date, but the company that owns the car that I borrowed will now be after him as well." That wasn't entirely true, but I needed to scare Marie into giving out the contact information that she had been unwilling to provide before.

"He is in a lot of trouble, isn't he?" she asked.

"He is getting into more and more trouble as we speak."

"Okay", she said, and gave me Pilkin's cell phone number.

Putting it in my phone, I thanked Marie and turned to say "hi" to Jorge and Eduardo as they arrived in the fleet vehicle, a new black Ford Edge. They got out of the car and came to stand in front of the Cayenne. They stood, hands on their hips, and shook their heads. "Not your best one, Steph." Eduardo added "now the time half a year ago when you had your car shot up and then it exploded, setting off the chain reaction with Lula's, Connie's and Vinnie's cars, that was your best one."

"I don't agree", said Lula. "I think the time a garbage truck fell on Ranger's Porsche Turbo and it exploded was the best time."

"I don't know", said Jorge. "I think the time when the Molotov cocktail was thrown into her car and it exploded was the best."

"Or how about when that nasty Mama Macaroni was trying to steal Steph's car outside the dry cleaners, and the car exploded and burned to a crisp?" said Lula. "That one was pretty good as well, partly because it got rid of that mean old bat."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I have a lot of car incidents. More than normal, I guess."

"You guess?" asked Lula. She started to laugh. "Connie and I started a pool with Vinnie to try to determine when your next car incident would be. Not the thefts. Just the incapacitations."

"You are taking lessons from Rangeman. Who won?"

"Connie did. Vinnie and I thought it would be much sooner than now."

"What did she win?"

"A free specialty coffee from me and a dozen doughnuts from Vinnie. With the frequency you have car incidents, we would not be able to afford anything more valuable."

"What about the staff at Rangeman?"

"I won!" said Eduardo with a huge grin. "I guessed a week ago, but everybody else guessed closer to your last incident."

"Glad I could accommodate you."

"That's okay. Before you go we have to phone in our next predictions. This wouldn't be the first time you incapacitated two cars in one day."

Marie was listening to our conversation, her eyes bugging out. "When you capture my brother, have someone else drive the car to the police station. I don't want my brother involved in another car crash."

"Don't worry. I never had an accident with a skip in the car", I said, crossing my fingers behind my back and trying desperately to remember if that was true.

* * *

Eduardo and Jorge got in the Cayenne and told me they would see me later, as they left me to drive the car to the repair shop. Lula and I got in the Edge and drove to the deli before heading back to the office. I got a corned beef sandwich with an orange juice for myself, a club sandwich with a side of potato wedges and a vitamin water for Connie, and a cold cut sub, potato wedges and coleslaw with a diet coke for Lula. We took it all back to the office.

When we got in, Connie got out her purse to pay me back for lunch. "Don't bother", I said. "Apparently you won the pool. I think I owe you one for guessing the demise of my car later than anyone else's."

"I actually pegged it for two weeks ago, but Lula and Vinnie guessed it earlier."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen **

During lunch I received a text from the second Romeo. _"I saw you leave the building this morning but my car stalled and I could not follow you. I will wait for you to return. Don't worry. I love you. We will be together soon."_ I took a screenshot and sent it to Morelli. A few minutes later I got a call from him.

"I don't think it is safe for you to go back to Rangeman or, alternatively, you should go back to Rangeman and stay there."

"The good news is the skip that we had under surveillance crashed into Ranger's Cayenne this morning. We are now driving one of the fleet vehicles, a different car than I left in. I have a baseball cap with me. The windows are tinted. If I tuck my ponytail into the cap so that I am not so visible, I should be able to get into the building without being noticed. That gets me in there, and I should be safe in the building. As far as coming out tomorrow, I can do the same thing in reverse. Drive a car with tinted windows and tuck my hair up in the ball cap."

"Can't you just get in and stay in? Do you have to come out again tomorrow?" Morelli asked, a pained tone to his voice.

"I have to earn money. You know that. I just had bodywork done on my car, and I need to replenish my bank account. This is how I earn money."

"You could live with me and then you wouldn't have to earn money."

"Joe, we have been over this several times."

"I know. But I have to try. I miss you."

I sighed. "I know."

"And I thought, now that you realize that I will always be there for you while Ranger is off God knows where periodically and is not there to support you, perhaps you could reconsider and give me another try."

"Morelli, this has nothing to do with Ranger. You know that."

"I just don't want you to give up on us."

"I haven't. You are still my good friend. We still have a relationship. It's just a relationship based solely on friendship now. The only thing that has been taken out of our relationship is the sex."

"Will we ever get back together?" asked Joe hopefully.

"I doubt it. I value our friendship highly, and I love having you as a friend."

"But only as a friend?"

"But only as a friend", I agreed.

"Okay." Morelli sighed. "You know I will keep asking, don't you?"

"I know. And you know my answer will always be the same, don't you?"

"I'm starting to believe that."

Moving the conversation back into less personal waters, I said "I will let you know if I receive any more texts."

Morelli got the hint. "Are you spending the afternoon chasing skips, or are you heading back into Rangeman?"

"I checked my desk this morning and there were a couple of large files to research. I was going to work there this afternoon." I said goodbye to Morelli and hung up the phone.

Lula looked at me. "He is not giving up easily, is he?"

"No, unfortunately not. I feel like I am drowning in attention right now. I have two unknown people chasing me in a creepy way, Joe chasing me in a non-creepy way, and Ranger making friendly noises but having to pop out of town before he tells me what he is thinking. I am finding it all a little hard to take."

"I wouldn't want the creepy Romeos, but I would take the problem with Morelli and Ranger any day."

"No, you wouldn't. It sounds like the ideal situation but in reality is no fun. I don't like hurting Joe and I don't know where I stand with Ranger."

* * *

I drove back into the Rangeman facility, my hair gathered up under my ball cap, my gun strapped into my thigh holster, and Tank's phone number on speed dial. Going to my desk, there was the two large files to research for Operations, three smaller ones for Sales, and a note from Tank asking me to go to his office.

Knocking on Tank's door, he invited me to come in. "I got your message?" I said.

"I asked you to come in for a few reasons. First, what happened with the Cayenne today?"

"I parked Ranger's car across the bottom of the driveway to ensure that the skip didn't get away. He escaped through a bathroom window, hopped in a car, and reversed into the road. He tried to back up around Ranger's car and bounce off the curb, but instead he bounced into Ranger's car. He continued to back up into the street and drove away."

"Do you have any leads on him?"

"I have the names of three of his girlfriends and one of his friends, and was hoping to call them this evening to try to get information from them."

"When you go for the takedown, take one of the patrol guys with you. I don't want this guy to get away."

"All right. You think Lula and I would let him get away?" I asked with a smile.

Tank grinned. "I'm not touching that one. Did you receive any more texts from either of your Romeos?"

"Yes. At breakfast I picked up one from each Romeo saying that they loved me and that they were going to take me away from my life here. I screenshotted them and sent them to Morelli. I then received a text at lunch from the second Romeo saying that he saw me leave the building here and that his car stalled and he was unable to follow me. He also said that he would be coming for me soon. I sent a copy of the text to Morelli and talked to him a few minutes later. He is concerned about my visibility being out and about. I tucked my ponytail up in a ball cap and returned to Rangeman."

"May I see the text messages?"

I pulled out my phone and showed Tank the messages. He steepled his hands and looked at me. "I agree with Morelli that I would like you to stay in the building. However, I know you won't. Please be careful. If there is anything we can do, anything from providing fresh cars to bodyguard services, let me know. It is important that we work as a team on this."

"Thank you."

"On another note, the accountant came up with a cheque that you wrote to Rangeman for your bodywork. We will not be cashing the cheque. That bodywork was ordered by Ranger as a benefit for working at Rangeman. I just wanted to let you know so you can balance your chequebook accordingly."

"Tank, would you be paying to have bodywork done on any other staff member?" I asked, frustrated.

"Has any other staff member been targeted as a result of doing their work for Rangeman?" he shot back.

"What does that have to do with it? I am targeted all the time."

"But this time it was in response to your Rangeman activities. The tires were replaced because they were knifed. The bodywork was done because you were knifed. And drugged. Your car was too noticeable with all the rust on it. You blend in better now. Ranger needs you to be able to blend in."

"I will take this up with Ranger when he gets back."

"You are certainly entitled. However, I know he will say the same thing. We will not be cashing that cheque."

"I don't like accepting financial support from Ranger. It makes me feel icky."

"I understand that. But you also have to understand that Ranger will do anything he possibly can to try to keep you safe. It is the land of leased cars out there. Cars that have rust on them stand out now. It's not like it was twenty years ago. And since your car was rusty, it was too noticeable. It's not safe."

I didn't say anything. What was there to say? It went against my need to be self-sufficient, yet here I was, living in Ranger's apartment, working at a job Ranger gave me largely to keep me safe and financially solvent, frequently even wearing his clothes. I took the cheque and invoice back from Tank, folded it and put it in my pocket. "I will talk to Ranger about it when he gets back."

"Okay. The last thing I want to talk to you about is the move coming up. Your office will be finished this evening and the paint will have dried by the end of tomorrow. I was thinking of pulling a couple of the guys off patrol in the day after tomorrow to help you move all your furniture and files into your new office. Can you be around for that?"

"I will make sure I am here."

I left Tank and headed to the break room for a coffee. I was looking forward to the move, partly to get myself away from the dead quiet of the control room. Also, my new office will be located closer to the break room and would be much easier to refresh my coffee during the day.

* * *

I finished researching Tank's files in the early evening, and slid them under his door as I went to the break room in search of some dinner. Ella had laid out a selection of sandwiches, salads, cut vegetables, and fruit. Her hot selections were Italian wedding soup, and turkey divan. The turkey divan must have been especially good. There was hardly any left. I settled on the less popular soup and paired it with a turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwich on birdseed bread. As I sat there, Hal came in. "So you will be leaving us all alone in the control room soon, I hear", he said.

"I know. I'm moving on up into my own office. You won't have to hear my phone buzzing all the time."

"We never minded the interruptions. We will miss you when you leave. Remember that we have your back if you ever need us."

"Thank you."

"Have you heard back at all from Adam? I didn't think he would go away very easily."

"I have one or two different anonymous Romeos frequently texting me. One of these Romeos could be Adam, but we don't know and neither of them are admitting to who they are. At least one of them has my apartment under surveillance, and the other knows I work at Rangeman, so I am staying at Ranger's place while he is away. They are kind of creepy."

"I don't want them messing with you. Let me know if I can do anything." He grabbed his coffee and went back to the control room.

I put my dishes in the bin and headed upstairs. On the way I heard the ping of my phone. When I got in the apartment I changed Rex's water, fed him some hamster crunchies and, chores completed, I felt I could not stall any longer and opened up my text messages.

I had two messages, one from each of the Romeos. The one from the first Romeo said _"I know you aren't in your apartment. I will check the cop's house. I know you are somewhere and, when I find you, I will take you away so we can live happily ever after. You are mine."_ The message from the second Romeo said _"I missed you coming back to the office. I will wait outside the office tomorrow for you. As soon as I find you I will steal you away. I know you want me, too. Your eyes were begging me. It won't be long before we are together."_

I sent screenshots of both the texts to Morelli with the message _"I think this confirms there are two. Be careful and stay safe. Romeo One knows where you live."_

I then sent screenshots of the texts to Tank with the message _"I am a popular person."_

Seconds later Morelli called. ''I actually think that this guy already was here tonight. Bob started going crazy at the back door. When I let him out, there was a clatter and someone ran away. When I investigated I found that someone had dragged over an old lawn chair and was standing on it at the kitchen window looking in. Bob scared him off. I thought it was kids until you said that Romeo One knows where I live. I have a dusting kit coming over so I can dust for fingerprints. I hope I will be able to figure out who this guy is. Please tell me you are at Rangeman."

"Yes, I have been here since I came back this afternoon. I will be here all night, and I am not sure what I will do tomorrow. I had planned on skip chasing with Lula, but I need to talk with Tank first."

"Can you stay there?"

"That is always a possibility, but I don't want to give Vinnie the opportunity to give my files to Joyce."

"Fuck Joyce."

"I don't think so. I don't want to be like the rest of Trenton."

"I know she is a slut, but I doubt she has done _all_ of Trenton. There has to be a guy somewhere she hasn't done."

"She has done you, hasn't she?"

"True, but that was a long, long time ago. And we are getting off topic. It is better to give your files to Joyce and for you to be alive than for you to leave the safety of Rangeman and for you to be dead."

"I'll think about it."

"That's code for 'I'm doing what I want but I'm tired of talking about it and want to pacify you', isn't it?" I heard a doorbell in the background and Bob start to bark. "I have to go. The dusting kit is here. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Think about staying at Rangeman", he said and then he was gone.

There was a knock on my own door. I opened it to find Tank.

"I got the screenshots and wanted to talk to you, but you were on the phone. Are you free to talk now?"

"Absolutely," I said, "I am off the phone now." I stood to the side of the door and let Tank in. He headed for the living room and sat on the couch.

"I read the texts. Are you still planning on going out for skips tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yes", I said. "Vinnie is planning on giving my skips to someone else if I don't bring the rest in."

"Okay. If you are set on leaving the building I would like you to take Eduardo instead of Lula. I will pull him off patrol so that he can go with you. He will help you both with the takedown as well as by providing guard services."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"You aren't asking. I am telling you that is what I am doing."

I paused, warring with the need to accept help and the desire to do it myself.

"Steph, it is important to everyone at Rangeman that you are kept safe. You are a member of our team."

"But you are keeping me safe from dangers not associated with my Rangeman work."

"It doesn't matter where the dangers originate from. All that matters is that you are currently in danger. I would do the same thing for any member of the Rangeman staff. I am not treating you any differently because of your relationship with Ranger or because you are female."

"Okay, as long as you are not treating me any differently. Thank you."

"Eduardo will be driving a fleet vehicle but will be driving a different fleet vehicle than you were driving today. He will also stay away from the bonds office so that you don't pick up a tail there."

"Okay."

After making arrangements to meet Eduardo at nine thirty in the break room, I showed Tank out the door. Pouring myself a glass of icy cold water from the fridge dispenser, I headed off to the office. Sitting down at the desk, I got out my phone and texted Lula. _"Hey, girlfriend. Can't go skip chasing with you tomorrow. The Romeos have become more threatening and Tank is sending me out with Eduardo instead. Wish me luck in capturing these guys and I will catch up with you later."_

I got an immediate response from Lula. _"Thanks for the heads up. I will buy a new magazine on my way into work tomorrow. Good luck with Eduardo and stay safe."_

I sent a text to Morelli. _"Tank has given me Eduardo as a bodyguard tomorrow. I will be leaving Lula at the office. Let me know how it goes with the dusting?"_ I did not hear back from him and assumed he was busy with the officers checking for fingerprints.

I then opened up Ranger's computer and logged into the search programs. I ran Pilkin's three girlfriends through the system, deciding to meet them face-to-face instead of phoning them. I ran Pilkin's friend through the system, also deciding to meet him face-to-face the next day. All four of them lived in the Burg.

I then opened up Vinnie's new files. The first file was for Axel Douglas, a teenager that lives in the Burg. He was arrested for public mischief for removing traffic signs from intersections in his neighbourhood. He's a collector and, when the police searched his room for the signs, they found four street signs, one yield sign and two one-way signs. They also found three stop signs. He said they were planted there and he did not know they were stolen but, since they were displayed prominently in his room, the police arrested him anyway. As they were leaving the house, the cop car was t-boned by another driver at the four-way stop intersection where Douglas had removed stop signs.

I searched the files on him. In doing so, I brought up his youtube account. He had several videos of full accidents and near-misses filmed at intersections where he had removed stop signs with commentary on each incident. I felt like smacking the kid for stupidity when I saw him.

The second file from Vinnie was for Brett Oswald. Apparently there was a theft at a local Claire's, a store that sells small fashion accessories. The thief wrapped his head like a mummy in duct tape, cutting out eyeholes and a mouth hole, and entered the store. His goal was to steal a few hairclips and headbands for his niece's birthday. He escaped with his loot to the mall bathroom, removing the duct tape there. He disposed of the duct tape, leaving behind DNA evidence. He also left behind pieces of tape in the back of his head and adhesive from the tape stuck to the front. To make matters ever more incriminating, the duct tape had irritated his skin, resulting in a rash all over his face. As he walked past mall security, they literally caught him red-faced. He lived in the area around State and Elm.

I heard a ping and checked my messages to see if Morelli had responded to my earlier text, only to find a text from my first Romeo. _"Is the cop your boyfriend? He is an impediment that is easily eradicated. I will get rid of him for you. We are meant to be together. It was fate that brought you to me."_

I responded with _"No, the cop is not my boyfriend. We can't be meant to be together when I don't even know who you are. Can you tell me?"_

"_No. You will find out soon enough. It will be a good surprise, much like Christmas."_

"_I never liked surprises."_

I sent a screenshot of the exchange to both Morelli and Tank, and then called Morelli. He answered on the first ring. I could hear talking in the background. "Do you have company right now?" I asked.

"Yes. Is this important?"

"It is important for you to check your messages. You can call me back when the company leaves." I hung up with him.

I got a call from Tank. "Did you talk to Morelli?" he asked.

"Briefly. He has company over. I told him to check his messages now and call me back later."

"Good. Apparently you are not the only one that needs to stay aware. Are you still wanting to go out tomorrow?"

"Yes. I know both you and Morelli will say that I should reduce my exposure, but if I reduced my exposure every time I got a threat I would never see the light of day again. I have to do my job. You would do the same thing."

"I know and that is why I am sending Miguel to guard you as well as Eduardo. There is more at stake here than you know and I don't want to take any chances with you."

My antenna started humming. "What is at stake that I don't know?" I asked.

"Not my place to tell, Steph. Ranger will explain it when he returns."

"Have you heard from him?"

"No and I don't expect to until the job is done."

"And you can't tell me what that job is?"

"No, I can't. I'm sorry, Steph. Just know that he is safe so far, otherwise we would have heard something."

"Okay", I sighed, "at least that is something."

* * *

Even though it was late, I was still antsy. I had not heard back from Morelli, and the conversation with Tank about Ranger had unsettled me. I ran the water in the bath, putting some of Ranger's shower gel in as I did so, and sank down into the fragrant water. Just after I got in the tub, Morelli called.

"You got the message?" I asked.

"Yes. I will be careful. It was Thomas Nilchinni and Andrea Antone who showed up. They got a few good fingerprints and are running them tonight. I should have a text from them tomorrow. Hopefully the peeping tom is the same guy who is sending you the text messages and the flowers. I would like to know for sure who it is."

"Be very careful. It sounds like he wants to steal me away, but wants to get rid of the competition posed by you. Remember, if it is Berginni he poisoned the rival boyfriend and then, when the girl was still not interested, he poisoned her as well."

"I understand the desire to get rid of the competition. Don't worry. I will be careful and will avoid any opportunity where I could be poisoned. You also need to be careful and avoid any opportunity to poison you."

"Tank has added another guard to me tomorrow. I will feel ridiculous having two bodyguards."

"I am glad he has done that. You may feel ridiculous but it is necessary. Remember, there are two Romeos out there. There is the one who wants to get rid of me and kidnap you, and there is the other one who just wants to kidnap you. Either of them could try to kill you if they do not get their way with you. If they capture you and you cannot get away, remember there is no shame in pretending to be happy about going away, taking your purse with you, and letting Rangeman come and rescue you. That is better than fighting against going away and having the kidnapper potentially get angry and kill you."

"I know. I will be careful as long as you promise me that you will be careful as well." I hung up with Morelli and, since the water was getting cold, got out of the tub. The conversation had unsettled me more than I had been before my bath. I put on one of Ranger's t-shirts and underwear and finished up in the bathroom. Then I went to bed. I was restless and could not get comfortable. My mind was whirling a mile a minute, worried about Morelli, worried about Ranger. Finally, hugging Ranger's pillow for comfort, lulled by his scent, I fell off to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen **

I rummaged through the cupboards for some decent cereal. Not the birdseed crap that Ranger stocked. I wanted the tastes-good, high-fat, high-sugar, low-nutrient kind. I could not find anything. Ranger sure knows nothing about eating. I took some of his birdseed cereal and gave it to Rex.

I looked at my messages. Nothing. Nada. No message from either of the Romeos, and no message from Morelli. I sent a text to Joe. _"All quiet here. No messages. Everything okay there?"_

Within seconds came the reply _"Everything was quiet last night. Bob didn't even bark at squirrels this morning."_

"_Still be careful anyway"_, I said. I went to get my files from the office. I finished getting ready for the day, left the apartment, and went downstairs to eat some breakfast in the break room.

I sat down with Miguel and Eduardo with my hot oatmeal and dumped four packets of sugar and some cream on it. Unlike Ranger, I know how to eat. "We have a full day", I said. "We have two files from Vinnie to clean up, and four people to talk to for an additional file from Vinnie. I would suggest that we tackle the file from the State and Elm area first, then head to the Burg for the discussions with Pilkin's friends. If we have time, we could then try to capture the remaining felon for Vinnie. Does that make sense?" I asked. Both Eduardo and Miguel nodded their heads. I finished my cereal and, getting to-go cups of coffee for each of us, we headed down to the car. There was a blue rental SUV in the parking garage. Eduardo and Miguel headed for it. "What's this?" I asked.

"Tank said one of the Romeos was watching the office. If so, they would have noticed that all Rangeman vehicles were black. We are driving a dark blue car instead to help us go incognito. Anyone who is familiar with Rangeman will likely not put it together that you are in this car."

Eduardo drove with Miguel sitting in the front seat. I had my doors locked in the backseat, safely hidden behind the tinted windows. For added protection, Eduardo and Miguel had me tuck my head between my legs to hide my head from passing cars until they were certain that we weren't followed. I was glad to sit up again. All the blood had gone rushing to my head making my head felt odd.

We made our way to Oswald's house, me giving details of the theft to Eduardo and Miguel on the way. "He does not have a job", I said. "So he is around. I am sure he just didn't have a ride to the courthouse and that is why he missed his court date. I have lots of skips like that. They can't make it to the courthouse for one reason or another and decide to just skip the trial. This guy is wanted for petty theft. He will likely only get a slap on the wrist."

We got to Oswald's house. Eduardo and Miguel had obviously been trained by Ranger. They parked a couple of houses down the block from Oswald's, and they sat for a minute assessing the neighbourhood. Getting out of the car, they handed me a Kevlar vest. "Put it on", said Miguel. "Tank's orders."

"But the Romeos won't shoot me."

"It doesn't matter. They are Tank's orders. Besides, we are wearing Kevlar. It is part of our uniform." Phrased like that, I didn't feel like such an oddball, like someone who is being babied because of my potential relationship with Ranger. I would much rather think of myself as just one of the guys. I put on the Kevlar and grabbed my cuffs. I tucked them in my back waistband. I did not think we would have any problems with the takedown, so I did not strap on my gun or take out my pepper spray. Eduardo and Miguel did not have the same level of confidence. They checked to make sure their guns were loaded and ready in their holsters. On their utility belts they each had cuffs and pepper spray. They were going in loaded for bear.

Oswald lived in a dodgy rooming house. The walls were covered by peeling wallpaper and the house smelled like stale food. Meeting the landlady in the front hall, I started to introduce myself. The landlady did not care, interrupting me to ask who I was looking for, explaining that there was a good episode of Jerry Springer on and he was exposing women who chose to have babies with their grandfathers. Inwardly I wondered how they could get enough volunteers to come onto the show who qualified. After all, I didn't know anybody who had birthed their grandfather's baby.

"Oswald?" she said. "His room is on the second floor at the end of the hall." She turned around and hurried back to her show, desperate to make sure she did not miss anything.

We walked up the stairs and down the hallway to Oswald's bedroom. I knocked on the door and received a muffled invitation to come in. I opened the door to see Oswald standing on his head. Seeing the three of us, he dropped down and landed on his feet.

I introduced myself and the two guys and explained that we had come to take him in to reschedule his court date. "I am sure that you just forgot your date, but now you have to come in to reschedule."

"No can do. I am waiting to hear whether I got a job interview with our local grocery store as a stock boy."

"Do you have a cell phone?"

"Yes."

"Will they call your cell phone number?"

"Yes."

"Do you not have voice mail on your number?"

"Yes."

"Then you won't be missing anything by coming into that station right now, will you?"

"But I am hungry. I haven't had my breakfast yet."

I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. "There is still time for me to buy you a breakfast sandwich if you come quickly."

"I have to get dressed."

"Then get dressed quickly, or we will miss breakfast at the coffee shop and I am not buying you lunch instead. This is a one-shot offer. I will wait in the hall with Miguel while Eduardo waits in here with you while you change."

"I would be much happier if you waited in here with me while I change and the two guys wait in the hall."

I laughed. "Nice try, but not going to happen."

When Eduardo and Oswald emerged from the room a few minutes later, I cuffed him. Then we formed a human caravan – Eduardo walked down the stairs first, followed by me, followed by Oswald, followed by Miguel. We emerged in the sunshine, blinking as our eyes got used to the brightness after being in the dirty darkness inside. Miguel jogged down to the car and pulled it up to the house while Eduardo and I waited with Oswald in the shadows.

It is always a bit nerve-wracking for me to capture skips with some of Ranger's Merry Men. They are so professional, and I am so not. If something goes wrong with one of my captures, I am embarrassed and, in all honesty, with my captures something usually goes wrong. It often takes me several attempts at making captures before I am successful. So even though Oswald was small potatoes, and even though I suspect that he wasn't very smart – after all, using duct tape for a disguise? – I was still thankful that the capture went smoothly.

"I have to ask", I said as we climbed into the car and I strapped him into his seatbelt, "why were you standing on your head?"

"I lost quite a bit of hair when the duct tape came off. I heard that standing on your head would increase blood flow to your hair follicles, which would cause your hair to grow back."

"Is it working?"

"I think so. I think my hair is a centimeter or so longer than it was before."

"Good for you!" He reminded me of Bob, kind of pudgy, kind of dumb, but in his pudginess and his stupidity he was kind of cute. I bought him two breakfast sandwiches when we went through the drive-through. Eduardo and Miguel refused one. They had bacon on them.

We got to the precinct parking lot and waited while Oswald finished his breakfast. As I got out of the car to escort him to the station, Miguel laid his hand on my arm. "You and Eduardo can stay in the car. I will take your skip in. Tank's orders." He held out his hand for the paperwork. Making a face, I got back in the car and rummaged through my purse, handing him the papers he needed.

* * *

Oswald's capture made me feel a little more confident. We headed to the first of Pilkin's girlfriends, Francesca Krempett. She lived with her parents in a tidy duplex with white siding and black shutters and door. Red flowers lined the walkway to the front door. Her mother answered when I knocked. I apologized once again for her loss. "I don't know if you remember me, but I was the one who wanted to speak to Francesca about Gavin Pilkin. I promised to call but decided to come and talk to your daughter instead."

"Gavin Pilkin is a loser. Francesca is better off without him."

"I'm sure she is, but I would still like to ask her a few questions."

"She's at work right now", she said. "I can get her to call you when she gets in."

"Thank you. I would love to talk to her. The sooner the better, as I would really like to capture him." I gave Mrs. Krempett my card.

We then went to Theresa Russo's apartment. She lived in an upscale building, complete with all the amenities that my building didn't have. A swimming pool, a gym, a putting green, a rooftop garden, a shuffleboard, a workshop, a library and underground parking. What it didn't have was a Theresa Russo. Deciding she must be at work, we decided to tackle the last of the girlfriends before lunch.

Annie Katts was a stay-at-home mom with one-year old twins and a three-year old son. We arrived on her doorstep at a good time. The twins were down for their morning nap.

I introduced the three of us, explaining that we were looking for Gavin. "Shh", she said. "My husband doesn't know about Gavin."

"Is he here?" I whispered.

"No", she answered.

"Then why are we whispering?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. My three-year old is at daycare right now. I have to be careful with him as he repeats everything he hears."

"I can understand that. My nieces are the same. It can be quite embarrassing at times."

"It can, can't it?"

"We need to find Gavin. Because he missed his court date he is now considered a wanted fugitive. Once he goes back in to reschedule, he will be back to being someone who is just awaiting trial like he was before. Do you have any idea where he is?"

"He's not at my house, if that is what you are asking."

"I wasn't, but that is good information to know. Has he ever stayed at your house?"

"No. My husband is home nights. Gavin has to come during the day. He usually comes during the kids' nap time when my three-year old is at daycare."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"He has not been by in a couple of days."

"If you see him again or if you are planning on seeing him again, would you please let me know? If you do not, you will be considered aiding and abetting a fugitive. And that would be bad for you." Katts blanched, swallowed hard and, taking my business card from me, nodded her head.

We left the house and walked back to the car. "Well, I think we scared the crap out of her. All in all, a good morning! We may not have got as much information as we wanted to, but we did get a capture and I think one of Pilkin's friends on our side. Where do you want to go for lunch?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

We ate our subs in the car. I had a chocolate bar with mine. I wanted to go in the restaurant, but Eduardo and Miguel refused. "Tank's orders", they said. I grimaced. As much as I liked Eduardo and Miguel as people, I hated being required to have bodyguards. I chafed at the restrictions much like I chafed as a teenager at curfews. As a teenager I would frequently escape out the bathroom window for the night, coming home in the wee hours of the morning after my parents had gone to bed. I once again felt confined, wanting to escape the restrictions again, and I fantasized about going into the restaurant and slipping out when Eduardo and Miguel weren't looking. I wouldn't actually do it, but I wanted to. Even if I was serious about trying to escape, though, Eduardo and Miguel weren't giving me the opportunity.

After eating, we decided to go to Keith O'Connor's place before trying Francesca and Theresa at work. O'Connor lived in a cozy brown brick duplex on a quiet side street. There was an enormous tree out the front of the house which hid the porch. We didn't bother parking the car down the street. Not only was our car a rental and would not be driven for very long, but the residents would not be able to see past the tree to determine what kind of car we drove anyway.

I walked up to the door, followed two steps behind by Eduardo and Miguel. Approaching the front door, I saw the curtain twitch in the living room window. I rang the doorbell, then waited. Turning to Eduardo and Miguel, I said "Would one of you please go and cover the back of the house? I saw the curtain twitch. I think there is someone in there." Without saying anything, Eduardo left the front stoop and circled the house to the back.

I rang the doorbell again and listened at the door. Nothing. Suddenly, Eduardo appeared from the side of the house. He held a man's arm twisted behind his back, the man whimpering as he stumbled along in front of Eduardo. "I found this gentleman slipping out the back door. Is this the guy you're looking for?"

"Yes and no. It isn't Pilkin but it is O'Connor." I turned to O'Connor. "Is Pilkin in the house?"

"No." He whimpered a bit more as Eduardo twisted his arm higher behind him.

"Have you seen him recently?"

"Yes."

When he wasn't forthcoming of any more information, I asked "when and where?"

"I saw him at my house last night. He was out with one of his girls, got wasted, and came back to my place to crash."

"Who was the girl?"

"A new one. Brittany, I think."

"Does Brittany have a last name?"

"Of course she has a last name", he said. "Everybody has a last name, don't they? Unless you are Cher or something."

I sighed. "What is her last name?"

"I don't know."

"When do you plan on seeing Pilkin again?"

"He should be coming back here tonight. He said his own house was being watched."

"This is important. I will leave you my card. I need you to call me when you know you are going to see him or when you do see him. He has missed his court date and needs to go in to reschedule. Because he did not show up for court, he is now considered a fugitive. Rescheduling isn't a big deal; aiding and abetting a fugitive is. And if you let him into your house and do not call us, that is considered aiding and abetting. If you call us you are not going to get into trouble."

"That's what this is about?"

"What did you think it was about?"

"Pilkin owes money to a loan shark. The loan shark threatened death if he does not come up with the money. I thought you were here representing the loan shark." Eduardo released O'Connor's arm. O'Connor stood rubbing it, shaking it out.

"It sounds like Pilkin is in a lot more trouble than just us. Ours is an easy fix. It will not take him a lot of time and will get both the bail bonds staff as well as, ultimately the police, off his back. Then he will only have the loan shark to worry about. When he comes to visit, does he drive his car into the driveway?"

"Yes, and he comes into the house through the front door."

"Thank you. You have been very helpful. Please let Pilkin know I will not hurt him. I will just take him into the courthouse to reschedule." We turned and walked down the sidewalk, getting back into the car. I was feeling pretty good about my tough guy act. It wasn't an act I could pull often. Lula didn't really look the part of the muscle in her hooker heels.

"Where to next?" asked Eduardo as he got into the car.

"Let's go visit Francesca at work", I said.

We drove the short distance to the clothing store where Francesca worked as a manager. Entering the store, flanked by the two Merry Men, I approached a woman working the till. I asked to speak to Francesca and was directed to the back office. The three of us went to the rear of the store. I reintroduced myself and introduced Eduardo and Miguel. I explained again that we were representing Pilkin's bail bonds agent and said that we were looking for him. "Rescheduling isn't a big deal, but being a fugitive is. Additionally, I have just found out that we are not the only people looking for him. He also has a loan shark looking for him."

"Is that why he wanted money? That is what we argued about. He asked me for money, even suggesting I should hock my jewelry when I said I didn't have any to give him. I thought he was going to use the money for one of his other honeys. He said he doesn't have any, but I'm not stupid. Someone who looks that good wouldn't settle for just me. Why settle for just one entrée when you can sample a smorgasbord? No, I'm not stupid. But we argued. He said I would give him money if I loved him. I said he would get rid of his honeys if he loved me. I guess I should have given him the money."

"I don't think so. He still has other honeys."

"I knew it!"

"Has he been around since your argument?"

"No, he hasn't. The argument was pretty brutal, so I don't expect that I will be seeing him any time soon."

"Taking him in to get rescheduled is a legal requirement and is something he needs to do. The longer he waits until being rescheduled, the worse it will look for him." I left her my card with the assurance that she would call if she saw or heard from him.

Leaving the store, Eduardo and Miguel and I decided to try Theresa Russo's place before heading back to Rangeman for dinner.

On the way to Theresa's place, I received a text from Morelli. _"Fingerprints confirmed Berginni. We have identified our first Romeo. Going to pick him up now. Will let you know what happens."_ I forwarded the text on to Tank and told Eduardo and Miguel. As I was telling them, I got a text from Tank. _"Be careful. Second Romeo still on the loose."_

We pulled into the parking lot at Theresa's condo building. It was six o'clock in the evening, an hour past the time that most people quit work for the day. The three of us tried buzzing Theresa's apartment, but no one answered. Deciding our time would better be spent at Rangeman eating dinner, we headed back to the office.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

"We will take one of the fleet vehicles this evening", said Eduardo as we took the elevator down to the parking garage. "With it being black, it will blend in better in the shadows for our surveillance."

All of us were dressed in Rangeman black and wearing Kevlar. Eduardo and Miguel had both their guns and their cuffs at the ready. I had Eduardo and Miguel at the ready. We were set for the evening. As we exited the parking garage, I again put my head down until I was told that it was safe to put it up again.

After a few minutes of driving, Eduardo announced that he thought we had a tail. He took a series of side streets and quick turns. Within minutes he announced we had lost the tail. "Not very good at this cloak and dagger stuff, is he?" he said. "That didn't take much to lose him at all."

The rest of the trip to O'Connor's house was uneventful. We parked outside the house in the same spot as we had parked earlier. Eduardo and I walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. O'Connor came to the door. If the weaving as he walked to the door was not an indication enough of his level of sobriety, his one hundred proof breath was. I asked him whether he had seen Pilkin that evening.

"Schno. I…I…dint schpeak to shim."

"Are you expecting him this evening?" I asked.

"Yesh."

"Did you have a visit from the loan shark?" I asked.

"Yesh."

"What did he say?"

"He schays he will kill Pilkrin if he doeschn't pay the loanschark back."

"Good thing I am taking him into the precinct then. The police will protect him while he is waiting for his court date to be rescheduled."

"But schen he can't earn money."

"He's not earning money now anyway."

"Strue." He lurched away from the doorway and went back in the house to get his drink.

I followed him into the house, with Eduardo and Miguel following me.

"Want schome?" asked O'Connor, emptying the bottle of Jack's into his glass. He looked surprised to see the glass bottle empty and tried to wring it out.

"No, thanks. May we wait in here for Pilkin to show up? It may be a long wait. What time do you expect him here?"

"Nineisshh. We were g-g-g-goin' ta drink this evenin'."

"I think you already started without him", I said, trying not to laugh. I closed the front door and sat down on the couch in front of the TV. "Get comfortable, guys. This could be a long wait."

O'Connor collapsed on the couch beside me. "Schore cute. Want to g-g-go out schome time?"

I could see Eduardo and Miguel stand up and take a step closer to O'Connor. Shaking my head slightly at them, I said "thank you for the offer, but I have a few too many boyfriends already. I am trying to downsize, not increase the number of people that are interested in me."

"Schtoo bad. We could have schun."

"I will keep you in mind if things don't work out for me."

"Schdo shat." He leaned closer, falling into me and resting his head upon my chest. Eduardo and Miguel immediately sprang forward. I shook my head at them, moving O'Connor off my chest by myself. I pushed him into the corner of the couch and took his drink away from him and put it in the kitchen. By the time I had returned to the living room O'Connor had passed out and Eduardo had moved into my seat.

As I sat down again, my phone buzzed. I checked my messages. There was one from Morelli. _"Tried to pick up Berginni. Mother hasn't seen him for three days. Doesn't know where he is. I will try again tomorrow."_

I also received a text message from each of the Romeos. Romeo One wrote _"I missed you today. Don't know where you are staying. I checked the cop's house and you weren't there. It is naughty of you to hide from me. I will find you and when I do I will show you how good we will be together."_ Romeo Two wrote _"I called your desk at work today but it went to voicemail. I didn't see you leaving the building. Are you living in one of the efficiency apartments? You work too hard. You need to let me take you to dinner. I will wine and dine you and make you forget all about Rangeman."_

I wrote back to Romeo One _"why did you select me to pursue?"_ To Romeo Two I wrote _"I work as much as I want to. Who are you?"_ Both messages and responses I sent to Morelli and Tank. Within minutes I had responses. Morelli wrote _"Romeo One – Berginni – sounds like he is starting to turn angry. Watch out for him. Romeo Two sounds like he is watching Rangeman. If you cannot stay in the building, be careful entering and exiting."_ I immediately wrote back to him _"staying in tomorrow. Moving offices."_

Tank wrote _"be careful getting back into the building. Have staff combing area looking for someone who might be our guy. Text me when you get back."_ I wrote back _"OK."_

"Berginni has flown the coop", I told Eduardo and Miguel. "Both Berginni and Romeo Two have spent the day looking for me. Romeo Two knows I work at Rangeman. Tank has staff searching the area looking for the guy."

"We'll keep you safe, Steph. Don't worry", said Miguel.

"I'm not worried. I'm more pissed off. These two Romeos are taking the two of you away from doing your jobs, I am finding it hard to do my job, and Morelli and Tank have been given a headache to deal with, all for some misplaced and inappropriate infatuation. Hell, yeah, I'm angry. No one should have to deal with this type of harassment. And it is all because I have a pair of breasts. It's not fair."

"You're right. It's not fair. That is why we are all, Morelli, Tank, and the rest of the Rangeman team, want to make sure it ends here. That you no longer have to deal with this", said Eduardo.

"We will try to make sure that no woman will have to put up with this again from these assholes", agreed Miguel.

* * *

We waited until midnight. Pilkin didn't show up.

We left O'Connor's house with him still passed out on the couch. I left another business card for him on the coffee table and we locked the door on our way out. As we left, I sent a text to Tank. _"Coming home now. How is it going on your end?"_

Tank responded _"Quiet. Couldn't see anybody who wasn't supposed to be there. Text me when you get in."_

I told Eduardo and Miguel what Tank had said. "Make sure you hide your head on the way in", Miguel said.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen **

I texted Tank when we got in, letting him know that the ride home was uneventful. He responded with a terse "_good_".

I was done for the night. I was tired, frustrated from not getting Pilkin, and cranky at the continuing interest from the two Romeos. I was happy to have a name to put with some certainty to Romeo One. I just wanted to know who Romeo Two was. I thought it was a good thing that Ranger wasn't around, as I would not have been very good company. But then I thought about what he would do to cajole me out of my bad mood, and the resulting loneliness was overwhelming. I got ready for bed, put on another one of Ranger's t-shirts, and climbed into bed, cuddling into his pillow again. Breathing a mixture of Bulgari Green and Ranger, I was comforted into sleep.

* * *

I slept in the following morning and had to hurry through getting ready for work. Teeth brushed, showered, hair pulled back into a ponytail, dressed, two coats of mascara and a coat of lip gloss, all within twenty minutes. I was flying.

I skipped breakfast and ran downstairs. Eduardo and Miguel had been assigned to help me move my stuff into my new office. I met them in the break room, apologizing to them for being late. Miguel laughed at how flustered I looked. "Please tell me you had time for breakfast", he said.

"No, I skipped it this morning. I didn't want to be even later."

"I want a coffee, so why don't you have some breakfast? We have time", suggested Miguel.

I helped myself to a bagel, toasted it, and put on some cream cheese. I added a container of strawberries and poured myself a coffee. Then I took the whole lot over to join Eduardo and Miguel at a table.

"What do you have up today, Steph?"

"The move from the control room to my new office, for sure. I also want to call Theresa Russo to see if she can tell me anything about Pilkin. I am giving up on catching her personally at home. Morelli is also coming in for coffee today and is bringing a restraining order for Berginni for me to sign. Finally, I want to call Axel Douglas's parents to find out when would be a good time to pick up their son to return him into the system. I am sure that I have some Rangeman files to research as well, since I was out of the office all day yesterday."

"We are here to help with whatever today. Tank has assigned us to you for the day, so if you are getting stir crazy and want to escape here at some point, we are available to help break you out. Tank has pulled some of the patrol guys off duty, and they are searching the area for someone who might be your harasser. Hopefully we will catch Romeo Two today."

"That would be good." I finished my breakfast, talking to the guys about the move. While I did so, my phone pinged a few times. I ignored it. I did not want the texts to spoil my breakfast.

When I finished eating, I disposed of my garbage and put my dishes in the bin. Then, with Miguel and Eduardo there for support, I opened up my messages. The first was from Morelli. _"Swung by Berginni house. Mother hasn't seen him. Will do spot checks throughout day. Be careful"_. I responded with _"I have been assigned Miguel and Eduardo for day. Berginni is mama's boy. Mother is hiding him."_ Within seconds I received the response_ "Don't have manpower to stake out Berginni house. Will talk to Tank today."_ I screenshotted Morelli's response and sent it to Tank as a warning of Morelli's impending request.

I had also received messages from my two Romeos. I had asked Berginni last night why he had targeted me, and I received the response _"I could tell you loved me when I looked in your eyes. When you came up to wait outside my room when I changed, I knew you wanted to come in. I knew in that instance I loved you, too."_ I wrote back to him _"I don't even know who you are. When did I meet you?"_ I screenshotted the exchange and sent it to Morelli and Tank with the message _"further proof it is Berginni. He is the only one I recently waited outside his door while he changed."_

I also received a message from Romeo Two. _"Don't play games. You know who I am. I am the one you fell in love with. I love you too. You are my sexy badass bounty hunter; how could I not?" _I received an additional message from him this morning. _"I know you have a boyfriend but I know you want to be with me instead. Your eyes tell me that you want to be rescued. Let me know who your boyfriend is and I will get rid of him for you. He should not be an impediment to our love."_ I replied with _"I still don't know who you are. I have many skips who fall in love with me. You are not the only skip who has pledged me undying love this week."_ I screenshotted the thread and sent it to Morelli and Tank.

Tank came in to talk to me. "I will talk to Morelli today, but as long as you stay in the building I can put Eduardo and Miguel on stakeout at the Berginni house later on today, after the move has been completed. I will then make sure there is always a team there until Berginni is caught. They can make a citizen's arrest until Morelli arrives. The key is that you have to stay in the building. How sure are you that the mother is hiding her son?"

"When we captured her son, the mother insisted on going to the jail with her son to keep him company and to make sure her son was treated well. She waited with her son through the whole rebonding process and, in talking to the officer on charge, I heard she even went to the cafeteria across the street when her son demanded food. He was hungry because he had missed breakfast. She told me he should not have to go to court because she did not believe he did it. She is desperately in denial. He is the worst mama's boy I ever did see. I am sure that, if her son is coming home, she would hide him."

"Okay, we will do surveillance on the house. But as I said, I can only afford the men as long as you agree to stay in the building."

"I worry about his threat to get rid of my boyfriend."

"I don't think you should worry. He isn't too knowledgeable about your life otherwise he would know the status of your love life. And both Ranger and Morelli can take care of themselves. I will tell Morelli to park in the underground when he comes and will tell the guard on reception to let him in."

* * *

In the middle of moving my desk, file cabinets and credenza into my new office, Morelli came with the restraining order for me to sign. I left the guys to do the heavy lifting while I joined Morelli for a coffee and to sign the papers.

"You said you are moving offices today?" asked Morelli.

"Yes. The control room is expanding, doubling up monitoring stations. They need the space on the floor and so a new research office was created. The guys are moving my furniture in as we speak. My files will be moved in this afternoon and I will be back to doing research by this evening. I caught the one person yesterday, but I still have two outstanding skips to capture as well as dealing with the Romeos. I have a couple of people to call about the outstanding skips. I won't be able to hide out at Rangeman forever. We may have to visibly let me leave Rangeman and have staff follow me to figure out who that person is."

"That's not a bad idea, but I don't want to make you that visible."

"You may not have the choice. At some point, we may need to force the issue", I said.

"I don't like it."

"I don't like it either. However, it may be necessary whether we like it or not. I can't hide out forever. I have just been lucky to be able to borrow Ranger's apartment for as long as I have."

"I think Ranger would be happy for you to live in his place indefinitely. I know I would."

"I don't know. Ranger likes his space, and so do I. Besides, we aren't together." I wasn't touching the comment that he would like me to stay at his place indefinitely. We had been over that conversation many, many times. "Be careful, okay? I don't know how much he knows about my life and he may think we are still together. He wants to get rid of my boyfriend and I am afraid he will come after you."

"You aren't worried about Ranger?"

"He's out of town."

* * *

By the time I said goodbye to Morelli and made it back upstairs, Miguel and Eduardo had finished moving my furniture into my new office. We then moved in the boxes of files, the computer hardware, and the office supplies. Tank came down with a couple of new leather guest chairs to put on the opposite side of my desk for visitors, and Eduardo came down the hall with a corkboard that Tank had put in the storeroom for me. Miguel screwed the corkboard into the wall for me, and Eduardo screwed in a holder for incoming files on the wall outside my door. Eduardo, Miguel and I christened my new office by having lunch in it. The research office was born.

After lunch, Eduardo and Miguel went to stake out the Berginni residence. I settled into unpacking all my files and office supplies. The guys had hooked up my computer and printer to the network as well as my phone lines. By mid-afternoon, my office was fully functional.

I sent a message to Eduardo and Miguel. _"Having fun yet? :)"__ I_ received a message a few minutes later _"Smart-ass."_

I booted up the computer and went down to the break room for a coffee. Coming back, I phoned Lula.

"Hey, girlfriend. Long time, no hear. How are your two Romeos?"

"We have identified one of the Romeos as Berginni. We are not yet certain who the second Romeo is, but I suspect it is the Office Romeo. We just have not been able to confirm it. I am stuck in Rangeman until they are caught. I will let you know when I will be available to go skip chasing again."

"Were you successful at capturing anyone yesterday?"

"Yes. We captured Oswald. I only have Douglas and Pilkin left."

"You have one more. Just came in yesterday. A would-be robber that got attacked by the family dog. The police are charging the robber with break and enter. The robber is trying to get the family charged with assault, because he got hurt while trying to rob the place. I will send you the particulars in a few minutes."

"How is Vinnie doing? Has he calmed down now that the file list is almost cleaned up?"

"Yeah, he had Darla and her dog collar in here yesterday to celebrate."

"Her dog collar?"

"I know her from my previous profession and I know she is into S&amp;M. So I asked her, as one professional to another, what Vinnie likes to do with her. She said she always brings a dog collar for him to wear and she leads him around his office like a dog on a leash. There is a lot of spanking as well. She said he pays well. Having said all that, he said there are a lot of potential skips coming up. Over the next couple of weeks he has a lot of bondees due in court."

"Is that Steph?" I could hear Vinnie say in the background. "Tell her not to take any holidays. There will be lots of skips coming in soon. And don't go spreading any rumours about what happens in this office. I can't have them getting back to Lucille."

"Tell Vinnie I never take holidays. I haven't taken a holiday in over two years." I said.

Lula relayed the message, and I heard Vinnie say in the background "tell her now isn't the time to start."

I said goodbye, with Lula promising me to send the information on the additional outstanding file.

I hung up as a short, small guy come down to my office with files from Sales. "Hi", he said. "I am Sven, and I work in Sales. Adam told me all about you, and how you are running away together to get married. We in Sales would like to throw you a going away party. Wow. You are as beautiful as Adam said", he said, tripping over his tongue.

"Are you still in contact with Adam?" I asked.

"Yes, why?"

"Do you have his phone number? I want to send him a text and I seem to have misplaced his number." I borrowed Sven's phone and wrote down the number. "When you next talk to Adam, could you please give him a message for me? Tell him that I am not interested. I have never been interested in him nor will I ever be interested in him. I have too many men in my life as it is and I do not need another one. It was nice to meet you, Sven." When Sven just stood there looking at me, gaping like a fish, I got up to shut my office door. Tank started down the hall towards me, empty coffee cup in hand.

"If you aren't interested in Adam, would you perhaps go out with me?" he squeaked out just as Tank got to us.

"Thank you, but no thanks. I am not interested in dating anyone right now."

"If you change your mind…"

Tank had stopped behind Sven, listening to his puppy dog noises. Tank leaned over and quietly whispered in his ear "she is already spoken for and, if I hear of you approaching Stephanie with anything other than a professional need again, I will personally fire you and walk you out of the building much like I walked Adam out. If you still approach her after we fire you, I will kill you. Do I make myself clear?"

Sven looked back at Tank and, intimidated by Tank's hulking figure, swallowed audibly and nodded his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect", he said to me. Then, ducking his head beneath Tank's arm, he darted off for the elevators to head back down to the Sales department again.

I stood, staring at Tank. "Little pipsqueak", he said. He turned to walk away.

"Wait", I said. "Sven gave me Adam's phone number and it matches our Romeo Two. I will let Morelli know."

"Thanks. It explains why Romeo Two knows where you work. He must have the building under surveillance. I will let the staff know. We'll catch him." He turned around and headed back to his office.

"Don't you want to get your coffee?" I called out.

"No. That was just an excuse to come down and intimidate someone. It felt good."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen **

I phoned Axel Douglas' phone number. The teenager did not answer his cell number. I phoned his home phone number. Again, no answer. I phoned his mother's cell number and was lucky enough to get her to answer. I introduced myself.

"I don't know why you are calling me. Axel went to court and was given ten hours of community service. He didn't skip out on his bond."

"I am sorry, Mrs. Douglas. Did you go to court with him?"

"No."

"Did your husband go to court with him?"

"No."

"Did anybody go to court with him?"

"No. We felt that it was important for him to own up to what he did by himself rather than with the support of any family member."

"While I would normally agree with you, what has happened is that Axel has lied to you. He did not show up for court and he is now technically considered a fugitive. He is taking a small misdemeanor charge and by not owning up to what he has done he is making it a lot more serious. Additionally, just so you know, my research has shown that he is posting videos of car accidents and near misses on the intersections where he has removed traffic signs. These videos were posted as late as yesterday."

"My husband and I don't know what to do with him. We hoped that the threat of jail time would push him onto the path of the straight and narrow, but it does not seem to have worked. We don't know what else to do. We made him give back all the signs and he has been grounded until his kids are old enough to have kids, but nothing seems to have worked." In my mind's eye I could see her wringing her hands as we spoke.

"I don't want to tell you what to do. I don't have kids of my own. But maybe you could take away his computer? He needs it to post the videos."

"We tried that, but he needs it for school. So he only gets it for a short period each evening."

"If you want to teach him a lesson, I can try to scare him into understanding the importance of what he has done. I don't normally do this, but I will call in some favours to find the biggest people in the business to show up with to pick him up to get rebonded."

"Would you do that for me? I am just so worried about him. We have talked and talked about how his public mischief could hurt someone, but he just ignores us and goes out to do it again."

"What time is he home from school?"

"He is supposed to be home by four o'clock. My husband and I don't get home until six o'clock, so if you want to take him before six that would be ideal. It will scare him more if he thinks he is all alone."

"No problem. I am not sure if I can arrange it for today, but I should be able to do so by tomorrow." I hung up the phone with her and walked down to Tank's office.

"I have a favour to ask."

"Shoot."

"I have a teenage felon who steals traffic signs and posts videos of the resulting accidents on youtube. He lied, saying the signs were planted in his room. He was caught and has now skipped bail. He told his parents he went to court and was given community time. So not only is he a thief that engages in pubic mischief and loves to advertise about it, but he is a pathological liar as well. His parents are beside themselves. They don't know what to do with him. I promised that I would get the biggest, most intimidating guys I could find to scare the hell out of him when I pick him up. His parents aren't there until six o'clock at night and have asked that the takedown happen before then. I was wondering whether I could get you and Hal to go with me. Your size alone is intimidating, and you could pretend to be mean. We could maybe even be a bit rough when we collect him. You know, do the full yards – cuff behind his back, shackle him, the whole kit and caboodle. Would that be possible?"

"I could do that tonight. Tomorrow I have an appointment to take the kitties into the vets for their annual shots, so I can't do it then. But I do have tonight free. Let's say four thirty? I will contact Hal for you and ask if he is available to go. He finishes work at three."

I thanked Tank and went back to my desk. Pulling out the information on Theresa Russo, I phoned her at her work and introduced myself. I explained that Pilkin had been arrested for vehicular manslaughter and that he had skipped bail. Because Russo was an accountant, I talked extensively about how he would lose his house if he did not show up in court and how he did not currently have a job. "I know of the charge the police made. He was framed."

"I am not sure how he could have been framed. The girl was on his lap, dead, when emergency services pulled him out of the car. It was clear that the deployment of the airbag was the cause of death."

"He was going out with me at the time. He would not have cheated on me."

"I am sorry, but you are his third girlfriend that we have contacted. You are all currently seeing Pilkin. And you three are only the ones that Burg rumour has pinned as being Pilkin's current honeys. I am sure there are more. I have heard of at least one more, although I have not been able to identify her last name."

"I don't want to believe you."

"I can give you names if you want." I gave her Francesca's and Annie's names. "Francesca and Pilkin are currently arguing. Pilkin asked for money from her and was unhappy when she didn't give it to him. For Annie, her relationship with Pilkin is an extramarital affair so you will not get any information when her husband is home during non-work hours."

"He asked me for money as well. Do you know why he wanted the money?"

"He owes money to a loan shark and from what his friend said, he owes quite a bit of money – to the point where he is nervous about physical retribution. He has all sorts of problems. Being a wanted fugitive, owing money to the loan shark, and now all his girlfriends knowing of each other. I would hate to be him right now, but he also deserves this. He has been making bad choices and is now having to face the consequences."

"I gave him money. He said it was a loan until he got back on his feet."

"It is a loan, but it is a loan for a loan shark. Do you know where we might find him? If we take him into the precinct, we can buy him some time by getting his court date rescheduled. Then he will no longer be a wanted fugitive. This will remove one of his problems."

"He has been staying at my place. He usually shows up around seven in the evening, has dinner with me, sometimes goes out in the evening, but usually comes home to me by eleven."

"I will try to come for him tonight. Please do not tell him we are coming. While I know that what we are doing will be good for him overall, he might not see it that way right now. He needs to be able to get his head above all this first." I received her agreement to try to waylay him if he wants to leave her apartment before I hung up.

My phone had pinged with another message when I was on the phone with Theresa. It was from Berginni. _"I am coming to your apartment tonight. It is time. Do not lock your doors to me. I will find a way in if you do."_ I sent the screenshot to Morelli and Tank.

I received a text from Hal. _"I'm in for tonight. This will be fun."_

I sent a text to Hal and Tank. _"Can we also go after Pilkin? They both should be easy captures. I have approximate times and cooperate family members and friends. Four o'clock for Douglas, seven o'clock for Pilkin. I will buy you dinner."_

I immediately received a "sure" from both of them.

I received a text from Adam, Romeo Two. _"I heard you spoke to Sven. He told me you aren't interested in me. We both know you are lying. I could see it in your eyes. Let me get rid of your boyfriend for you and take you away."_ I responded with _"I am getting a restraining order for you. Leave me alone."_ I screenshotted the threads and sent them to both Morelli and Tank.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen **

Tank, Hal and I suited up in full gear. Kevlar, utility belts with stun guns, pepper spray, Maglites, cuffs, and guns. Deciding we looked sufficiently intimidating, we drove to Douglas's house.

We walked up to the door, me ringing the doorbell and Tank and Hal standing behind me like an impenetrable wall. There was no answer. I rang the doorbell again. No answer. I crept around the house, looking in windows but I was unable to see anyone.

Deciding we would wait until Douglas returned home, we sat in the car, keeping the house under surveillance. While we did so, Tank and I updated Hal on the two Romeos and their identities. "I knew I should have pounded that guy when I had the chance", said Hal. "He was always a bit of an egotistical weasel."

After spending half an hour with the house under surveillance, I heard Hal's stomach rumble. "How about I buy you both a snack and then we can come back to continue surveillance in a few minutes. I saw an internet café a couple of blocks from here." Tank and Hal agreed.

Tank let me enter the café with Hal as backup. I looked around as I entered. Putting my hand on Hal, I quietly said "let's go". He looked at me, surprised, but followed me out without saying anything.

We joined Tank at the car. "Douglas is working on one of the computers in the café right now. I think we should do a takedown in front of all his friends. What do you think?" I asked.

The two agreed. We entered the café, again with me leading the pack and Hal and Tank providing backup. We walked over to Douglas and stood behind him. I looked to see what he was doing and found he was uploading another accident video.

"Was that video taken recently?" I asked.

"Yeah", he said, looking around. When he saw the three of us, he said "what the fuck?"

I grabbed his wrist and snapped a cuff on it. "Bond enforcement."

He started to struggle. "I don't have to go anywhere with you. This is kidnapping. Help! Help!"

"Tank?" I said, letting Tank roughly capture Douglas's other arm and snap the cuffs behind his back.

Hal pulled out the shackles. Douglas tried to kick Hal in the face. Tank shook him roughly for a minute then spoke quietly in his ear. "You little fuckwad, you listen to me and you listen to me good. Hal is going to put shackles on you like the criminal you are. Then we are going to walk you out to the car and take you to the police station. You will have to get bonded out again. When you do, you will have another date to go to court. And douchebag, you are going to show up to court this time, rather than just telling your parents you went. If you do not show up to court, I will be sent out after you again and I will not be as gentle with you as I am being now. Do you understand?" Douglas didn't say anything. Tank gave him an even rougher shake. "I said, dipshit, do you understand?"

"Yes", squeaked out Douglas. A wet stain appeared in the front of his pants.

"You are not going to steal any more signs, and you are not going to post videos of them. I will be tracking your internet usage and I will know. If I find out you are doing either of those things, I will come after you. Do you understand me, you little dickbreath?"

Douglas whispered another "yes". The stain on his pants grew larger. Tank continued to hold Douglas up. Hal took out his Maglite and smacked it against the palm of his hand. He walked behind Douglas's back, still smacking the flashlight in his hand.

"Let's go", I said. I shut down the file upload before it was finished and pocketed the jump drive to give to the police.

The manager of the café came running up to us. "You can't take him. This is kidnapping. It's against the law."

I pulled out my apprehension papers and said "Douglas has been partaking in a criminal activity, partly in your facility. He was supposed to show up in court to answer to his crime. He did not. He is now a wanted fugitive. You are hiding him from the law. We were brought in to return him to the legal system. You may look at our apprehension papers if you would like."

By this time Douglas was crying, wiping his snotty nose against his shoulder. "I thought it was funny. It was just a lark."

"It was just a lark that could have killed someone. Would it have been so funny if someone had died? If your mother had died? Your father? Your best friend? Because whoever would have been hurt would have been someone's family member. Someone's best friend", I said. "And now you are such a chickenshit you don't have enough guts to show up in court?" I shook my head. "Let's take him away, guys."

Tank shoved Douglas forward and shuffled him out of the quiet café, away from all the staring patrons, to the car. I picked up Douglas's backpack and brought it with us. Hal, having put his Maglite back on his utility belt, followed close behind me, back on my protection detail.

Tank got into the backseat beside Douglas. Axel continued to snivel and cry, his body shaking as he tried to hold in the tears. Hal drove and I sat in the passenger seat. Hal went straight to the drop-off area of the precinct and Tank, taking my apprehension papers and the jump drive, escorted a shaking and terrified Douglas inside. I got out of the car and switched to the backseat. There was more legroom in the front, and both Tank and Hal needed all the legroom they could get.

Tank did not take long in the police station and was back just in time to hear my laughter bubble up. "Holy smokes, guys, you were good. It is no wonder he wet himself. That Maglite thing was inspired, Hal. I don't think he will do anything wrong ever again. He was terrified."

"That was fun. It was like doing a public service", said Hal. "Getting to be a bully for a good cause."

"Yeah", said Tank. "I haven't had that much fun since I was in the army training new recruits. Where to now, Steph?"

"I thought we would have dinner, then go to the Russo apartment."

Back to business, Tank said "tell us about the next one. Pilkin, did you say?"

"Blowjob Boy? He was getting a BJ while driving, jerked off into the oncoming lane, and his girlfriend died on impact. He is wanted for vehicular manslaughter. He has been a hard one to catch. He has a number of girlfriends and friends, and he does not seem to go home very often. The one comment that I keep getting from people is that he is very good looking and very charming. People seem to give him whatever he wants whenever he wants it. Lula and I had staked out his house for a while, but as of yet we have been unsuccessful in capturing him. I have only had eyes on him once, and that was when he hit Ranger's Cayenne. We will be trying a takedown at the apartment of one of his girlfriends. She said he has been staying nights with her. She seems to have been duped the most. She was told by him and consequently believes that he was framed in the vehicular manslaughter charge. She loaned money to him, not realizing that he was using it to pay back a loan shark. She believed she was his only girlfriend. I had to give her names and contact information for the other girlfriends that I knew about, and give her accurate details about the accident to convince her that he was lying to her. She has lent him a significant amount of money, so she is feeling pretty bad about herself right now. I feel sorry for her."

"What's the plan?"

"After dinner, I thought we could head over to her place. One of us could stake out the back doors, and the other two could stake out the front doors. I would phone up to see if he was there. If he is there, someone could wait at the bottom of the stairs and elevators in case he makes a getaway while the other two go upstairs for the takedown. He is supposed to be there by seven o'clock."

Hal, Tank and I went to Pino's for dinner. I was squished in a booth beside Hal. Tank took up the entire other side. We ordered dinner – a Greek salad and garlic bread with cheese for me, a meatball sandwich and a Caesar salad for Tank, and a medium-sized pizza for Hal. The garlic bread was large and Hal and Tank helped me finish it.

Morelli came in while we were eating and, seeing Tank and Hal, headed over to our table. His face turned red when he realized that I was squished in the corner. "What are you doing outside Rangeman?" he demanded. He turned to Tank. "What are you doing letting her out of the building? We haven't caught Berginni or Adam yet."

"We have it in hand. She is fine. How is the search going for Berginni and Adam?"

"Frustratingly. You have had Berginni's home under surveillance, with no results. I have been doing spot checks for occupied cars in Steph's apartment building, also with no results. I have tried his friends, of which he does not have many, with no results. He seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. He does not have a credit card, so I cannot check transactions. His mother keeps moving money into his chequing account and he keeps withdrawing it, but he does so all over town. There isn't any one particular branch or bank that he goes to. His mother is convinced that her son had nothing to do with the original murders and that he has nothing to do with the harassment now. However, she did say that she wouldn't be surprised if Stephanie fell in love with her son. She said her son was a good catch and Stephanie seemed interested in him when she took him in."

"Which just goes to prove that the tendency towards being delusional runs in the family", I said. "If it weren't so serious it would be funny."

"You have to be more careful with your skips, Cupcake", said Joe. "You can't go around buying your skips meals and gifts."

"I didn't buy anything for Berginni. All I did special for him was let his mother ride in the car with us to the station."

"He somehow got the wrong idea", said Morelli.

"It wasn't anything I did."

Tank interrupted the impending argument. "Morelli, you know as well as I do that sometimes with harassment the most innocent thing can be misconstrued and taken as encouragement. It could have been something as simple as Steph smiling at him when she was cuffing him. That doesn't mean she should stop smiling or that she should stop cuffing people. It just means there is a loser out there who is so desperate for positive female attention that he mistakes something simple for something it isn't. This isn't her fault."

"I know it isn't your fault, Cupcake. Two people out there are fixated on you. It's just that I know how often that kind of obsession can turn dangerous. I find it hard knowing I can't protect you."

"At least we know who the two Romeos are now", I said. "That has to make you feel better. You can go out and try to pick them up, and Rangeman is coordinating with you to try to find them. We are working on this. You do not have to feel helpless. Now that we know who the Romeos are, we have quite a bit of power."

"What are your plans now?"

"We have another skip to catch and then we are heading back to Rangeman", said Tank. "We have the car doing surveillance on Berginni and we are looking in the area for Adam. We also have a patrol car doing spot checks on Adam's place. We will find them."

Morelli's name was called from the counter. "My pizza is ready. Bob and I are sharing a large. Be careful. Stay safe."

The bill came for dinner. I reached for it, but neither Hal nor Tank would let me pay. Tank took the bill, saying he would bill it to Rangeman. "That's not fair", I said. "You two are helping me out. You aren't even supposed to be working right now. You are in off hours."

"Whether or not you think it is fair, that is what we are doing", said Tank. I decided that I would make sure thirty percent of the apprehension fee went to Rangeman, with an additional ten percent each to Hal and Tank. That would leave Lula's ten percent with the remaining forty percent going to my bank account. I only hoped that Tank and Hal would accept the apprehension fee better than Rangeman had accepted reimbursement for my car's bodywork.

* * *

I called Theresa from the security phone. A male answered the phone. "Pizza delivery", I said. I had taken an empty pizza box from Pino's on the way out the door, and I was holding the box like it was full of pizza.

"We didn't order a pizza."

"Somebody ordered a pizza and it is already paid for. Are you sure you did not order a pizza?"

"No, we really didn't order a pizza."

"Do you want a pizza? You can have it for free. Someone else has already paid for it."

"Sure, you can bring it up."

"Apartment 1512?"

"Yes. I'll be waiting at the door." He buzzed us in.

Hal waited at the base of the stairs, just outside the elevator. Tank and I took the elevator up to the fifteenth floor. Walking down to Theresa's apartment, I was still holding the pizza box.

I knocked on the door, and a good-looking blond man opened the door. I shoved my foot in the door. Pilkin saw my face, said "oh, crap", and tried to slam the door shut.

Tank reached around me and cuffed one of his wrists. "Bond enforcement", I said, putting the pizza box on the ground. Pilkin started to struggle, trying to get away from us.

Tank gave Pilkin a little shake. "Stop", he said. "You are not going to struggle any longer." Tank grabbed his other wrist and cuffed him behind his back. "We are going to go to the precinct now. Do you need Stephanie to tell Ms. Russo anything before we go?"

"She had to work late this evening. I was making her some dinner."

"I will call her cell phone and let her know you won't be here", I said.

"You have her cell phone number?" Pilkin asked.

"We have a lot of information on all your girlfriends and friends. You have developed quite the file since you started running away from us", I said.

"I thought you were the loan shark and you were sent to rough me up."

"We are not. We represent your bond agency and are taking you back to the precinct to reschedule your court date. You missed your last one."

"Thank God."

I went into the apartment and turned off the stove and made sure all the windows were locked. I picked up Pilkin's shoes and put them on his feet. Then, taking his keys, I turned off all the lights and locked the door behind us as we left.

We met two other residents on the way down to the lobby. Both residents were friendly until they saw that Pilkin was in cuffs. They then sidled away from him, hurriedly getting off the elevator when we got down to the first floor.

As we walked to the car, I called Theresa. I reintroduced myself, partly so that Pilkin would not blame her for what happened. I then explained that we had taken Pilkin in her apartment and that we had shut off the lights and locked the door on the way out. "Do you want us to keep the keys so that you can pick them up from us at Rangeman? Or would you prefer we give them to the police to give back to Pilkin when he is released again?"

"I would prefer to pick up the keys from you."

I gave her the address to Rangeman and said that I would make sure the front desk had the keys available for pick up. In the background I heard Pilkin saying "baby, I love you. Don't take my keys. I want a life with you. I want children with you. I could be a stay-at-home dad. Don't do this, baby."

"Is that Gavin I hear in the background?" Theresa asked.

"Yes. Pathetic, isn't he?" I said. "He is playing you, thinking you won't find out about the other women, about his lack of job, and about his culpability in his accident. He thinks you are stupid."

In the background Pilkin started crying "those other women don't mean a thing. You are the only one that means anything to me. You know that. They are just women. And I was going to tell you about the job. I was just too embarrassed. Come on, baby, come and bail me out. You know I love you."

"As I said, pathetic." I asked Theresa to wait an hour before she showed up at Rangeman to give us time to get back to the building after dropping Pilkin off.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty **

In the middle of the night the phone rang, interrupting a beautiful dream with me and Ranger on a boat, sailing in the ocean into the sunset with a bottle of wine and a picnic dinner. It was an unusual dream. I don't know how to sail and, as far as I know, neither does Ranger.

I fumbled around on the nightstand, eventually snagging the phone. "S'hello?" I mumbled out.

"Babe?"

Suddenly I was awake. "Ranger? Are you okay?"

"Yes. I just needed to talk to you."

"Are you coming home soon?"

"Soon. My work here is just about done. We just need to debrief tomorrow, and then I am coming home."

"Was your trip successful?"

"As much as can be expected. The emergency has been averted. I will explain it when I get home. Tell Tank the mission was successful. He will know what I mean. How are you?"

"Good. We know who the Romeos are now. We are just trying to find them. One of them is a skip that I brought in a week ago. The other is Adam."

"They are still threatening to kidnap you?"

"Yes. You sound kind of odd, like you are still focused and revved up. Are you okay?"

"Yes. I just needed to hear your voice and to know you are okay. I have to go now, but I need you to promise me to stay safe. To stay aware, and to stay safe. Can you promise me that?"

"I will. Are you sure you are okay?"

"I am. Better than I was since I left you."

"I miss you. I have a good story to tell you when you get back."

"I miss you, too, Babe. Stay safe. See you in a couple of days." And then he was gone. I fell asleep cuddled into his pillow, holding the phone to my chest.

* * *

"Ranger called last night. He said to tell you the mission was successful and that he would be home in a couple of days. He didn't talk long."

"I am surprised he called at all."

"So was I. He sounded weird though. Off-balanced. Focused and revved up. He kept telling me to stay safe, made me promise to be careful. He said he has to debrief and then he will be home."

"I am going to give you some advice even though you didn't ask for it. When someone is away on a mission, even if things go according to plan, it is tough on your emotions. You become very focused on achieving your goals and you become hyper-vigilant. Ranger is one of the best in the business. Give him a break when he gets home. If he says to be careful, be careful. He will need that for his own comfort and to reintegrate himself into real life again."

"O-kay", I said.

"I know you don't understand this now, but you will over the next few days. Just remember what I said. And if Ranger says be careful, be careful. There are dangers out there that you cannot even begin to imagine."

I received a text from Berginni later on that morning. _"I am going home to pack. I need you to pack as well. I will collect you this evening at your apartment at seven o'clock. We will run away to Mexico and live in the land of surf and sand."_ I sent the text on to Morelli and Tank.

A few minutes later Tank came down to my office. "I have spoken with Morelli. We agree that you aren't going to Mexico without us." He smiled. "The Rangeman team is still on the Berginni household. If they somehow miss him, Morelli will wait at your apartment this evening. With the two opportunities available, we should be successful at capturing him."

As I was talking to Tank, a text came in from Adam. _"I am getting tired of waiting for you. I know you are in the Rangeman building. You can't work all the time. I will meet you in the lobby at noon today. Let me take you to lunch. I love you."_

I showed Tank the text, and forwarded it on to Morelli. Tank borrowed my phone and put it on speaker, and called Morelli.

"Did you see Steph's last text to you?" asked Tank. "She is here with me now and we would like to formulate a plan to capture this guy."

"Do you want me waiting in the lobby for him?" I asked.

"No. I want you as far away from him as you can get", said Morelli.

"It's not safe for you to be there", said Tank. I was surprisingly okay with that. I didn't have any particular need to be there and I wanted to stay safe. If for nothing else, then for Ranger's sake. "I will inform the guard on the front desk that Adam is coming. I will have a team waiting on the other side of the stairwell door and, when the guard pretends to call Stephanie down, the team will come out and capture him. We will make a citizen's arrest until you are able to come and arrest him yourself, Morelli. At the same time, as we discussed, we have a team still on surveillance on the Berginni residence. We will capture him when he returns home to pack a bag and get his passport. If we happen to miss him or if he decides not to return home, we have our backup plan of meeting him at Stephanie's apartment this evening. She has done a good job in making sure that neither of these guys feels threatened. They don't have anything to prove to her, so they will be less likely to turn violent."

"For everybody's sake, you need to stay out of the way, Cupcake. You will be putting yourself as well as all of us in danger if you show up."

"I hear what you are saying, Morelli. I'm not planning on crashing the party."

"On that note, I think we should go. We all have arrangements to make for today", said Tank. He hung up and turned to me on the way out of my office. "Remember what is important. Stay safe."

* * *

At eleven thirty, I went to the control room. Tank was working the monitoring station and Eduardo, Raphael and Hal had been called off patrol duty to come and capture Adam. They were waiting in the stairwell. The five of us – plus the guard – were linked via earbuds. At five to twelve, Adam came whistling into the lobby. He went to the guard and started chatting him up. He asked to be let into the building, saying that I was expecting him. That he was taking me out for lunch. The guard refused to let him go by. Adam then asked for me to be paged.

Eduardo, Raphael and Hal came out of the stairwell. They went over to say 'hi' to Adam. Pretending that they were happy to see him, they surrounded him. Adam fell into the camaraderie easily. Hal slipped a pair of cuffs on one hand before Adam even knew the cuffs had been pulled out. As he started to struggle, Hal slipped the cuffs on Adam's other hand. "Call Morelli", said Hal.

"Good job, boys", said Tank as he dialled Morelli's cell number. "We got him", he said into the phone. "Raphael, if you could please collect the earbuds from everyone. Eduardo, if you could please come up and cover monitoring for me. I will go down and wait with Hal and Adam for the police to show up." He turned to me. "Do you want to come down? Or have you seen enough?"

"I want to come down. I want to find out if there was anything I could have done to stop this before it got this far."

Tank and I got in the elevator and went down to the lobby. As soon as Adam saw me, he started struggling. "Hal has cuffed me. He said that I should have left you alone, that the police are coming. Tell them that this is all a misunderstanding. Tell them how much you love me and that we were going away together. I have rented a cabin in the woods for us. I was taking you there, as a surprise, during your lunch hour."

"You were going to take me to a cabin in the woods during my lunch? And then you were bringing me back again after lunch?"

"No. You work too hard. I was going to take you away from all that. I will look after you. You could live in the cabin and I could get a job close by, and we would be together forever."

"But I don't want that life. I have a boyfriend. I don't need another one. And I like the life I have. I don't need to be rescued from it."

"You would like it if you tried it. You would love me the way I love you."

Morelli came in the front doors behind Hal. "If you really loved her", said Morelli, "you would respect her wishes even though they are different than your own." He transferred Hal's cuffs back to him and put on his own set of cuffs.

"What do you know about it?" asked Adam.

"I know more than you can imagine." Morelli turned to the guys. "Thanks, guys. Hopefully the next one will be as easy. Cupcake, please don't show up at the next one."

"I was good. I waited until he was captured before I came down. I just wanted to see if there was anything I could have done to avoid this arrest."

"And was there?"

"I don't know", I said to Morelli. "Was there anything different I could have done to get through to you that I was sincerely not interested in you?"

"You are interested in me. You just haven't been given a chance to get to know me yet. Go away with me. We will have fun together. Please. I love you."

"I guess that's your answer, Cupcake. Not even being arrested is making this guy understand that his affection is unwanted. Give it up. This isn't your fault. Sometimes it has nothing to do with you." Morelli started walking Adam out of the building, reading him his Miranda rights as they walked.

* * *

After lunch, Tank came flying into my office. "Miguel and Xavier just spotted Berginni. They are about to close in. Let's go to the control room and coordinate things from there. We quickly ran into the control room, listening to the feed from the onsite team. We listened to the approach, the takedown, and the restraint. As Tank phoned it in to Morelli, we listened to Berginni's mother come out and berate the Rangeman staff, saying her boy had done nothing wrong. We heard his mother start to whack the staff with a broom, and we heard Miguel calmly take the broom away from Mrs. Berginni as she was hitting Xavier over the head with it. We heard Guido try to get away while Miguel's and Xavier's attention was diverted, and we heard Xavier tackle Guido to the ground. We heard Mrs. Berginni start to scream that Miguel and Xavier were going to kill her little baby. We then heard Morelli drive up, sirens flashing, to arrest Guido. We heard Mrs. Berginni hit Morelli as he read Guido his Miranda rights and led him away to the cop car. Then Tank said "good work" to Miguel and Xavier, and told them to come on home. It was over.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One **

I texted Lula. _"Both Romeos caught. Coming into office to get dog-bitten robber tomorrow. Want to ride shotgun? I'm feeling lucky."_

I received a response seconds later. _"Sure thing. Will be here when you get here. Glad to hear about Romeos."_

I went to the break room and grabbed a sandwich to take back to my desk. I ate dinner while I completed the research for the remaining files on my desk and filled out the corresponding reports. After finishing my research work, I went to the storeroom and grabbed a box of bullets and headed down to the shooting range. I had a lot of anger to get rid of. Anger at the two Romeos for interrupting my life, my routine, and my feelings of peace and harmony. Anger at the absurdity, the waste, of it. After all, if the Romeos had just listened and had absorbed what I was saying, they would not be facing jail time. And anger at the helplessness associated with being a female.

I put on my protective gear and stepped into the gun range. I sent a target down to the end and shot a complete clip in it. It was a tight round, with ninety percent of the bullets as bulls-eyes. Proud of it, I took that target down to show Ranger. I sent another target down to the end and shot another clip into it. I did really well on that one as well, although not as well as the first. I took that target down to show Ranger too, and sent a clean target down to the end. I shot another clip into the target. My aim was starting to disintegrate and my grouping wasn't as tight. It still wasn't bad, especially compared to my shooting a couple of months ago. But it still wasn't as good as the first two targets. I decided to put that target in the recycling bin and leave the range for the day. I put away my protective gear, went up to the storeroom to put away my excess bullets, then went upstairs to the apartment. I put the targets on the kitchen counter, fed Rex some dinner, had a shower and dried my hair, and changed into a pair of panties and another one of Ranger's t-shirts.

I went to bed, cuddled Ranger's pillow like a teddy bear, and smelling his scent, fell asleep.

* * *

In the middle of the night I heard the thump of a duffel bag hitting the floor in the closet. Seconds later, the light went on in the bathroom and the shower started to run. I stretched, releasing my Vulcan grip from Ranger's pillow, got out of bed, and went in the bathroom. Ranger was already in the shower. I took off Ranger's top and my underwear and stepped into the shower with him.

"I was trying not to wake you up", he said.

"Parts of me are waking up faster than others", I said. He pulled me to him, proving that parts of him were waking up as well. He gave me a deep kiss, and when our tongues touched, I was lost.

In my place we would have run out of hot water fifteen minutes after the shower had begun. In Ranger's apartment, you don't run out of hot water. We had the longest shower in history. By the time we emerged we were squeaky clean, lobster red, shrivelled pruny and very relaxed. "I missed you", I said as I climbed in bed with only one of Ranger's t-shirts on.

"I missed you, too. I was worried about you when I was gone."

"Things were okay. Tank took care of me. We got both Romeos today. Morelli booked them and made sure they understood that I have restraining orders against them both. They are each back out on bail again."

"Be careful. Restraining orders only work if the people respect them. They are better than nothing, but they do not solve much if the person who is being restrained ignores the order. You will be in some danger from these guys until they are put in jail permanently."

"That's a cheery thought."

"My mind hasn't had much chance to go into the cheery thought realm since I last saw you. It feels like a lifetime, yet it has only been a few days."

"Then I guess we will have to explore the cheery thought realm together over the next few days to make up for lost time." I leaned into him and gave him a sleepy kiss before settling down in his arms.

Ranger leaned over and turned off the light. "I saw the targets on the counter. Pretty tight groupings. When did you do them?"

"Those were from this evening. I was pretty pleased with them."

"You should be. You did a good job. Did you get a chance to stretch at all?"

"I would like to say yes, but I would be lying."

"We'll work on it now that I'm back."

"Will you be back for a while?"

"I should be back on my regular rotation - here for three weeks, gone for a week, here for five weeks, away for three weeks, then start the whole rotation all over again."

"Are you going to talk to me about what you have been doing?" I said as I yawned.

"Yes, although not tonight. Tonight I have other ideas in mind to do", and he whispered some of those ideas in my ear. Suddenly I found I wasn't so sleepy after all.

* * *

"What do you have up for today?" asked Ranger. We had just finished breakfast and I was sitting in Ranger's lap, finishing my coffee.

"Lula and I have to go out and pick up a skip today. I picked up a couple the other day. That was the story that I wanted to talk to you about. I had a teenage skip up for public mischief who had stolen traffic signs. His parents were beside themselves. They had been trying to get through to him but did not think they were succeeding. They asked me to scare the crap out of him. Now, you have to imagine the scene. I took Tank and Hal with me and we laid it on thick. We went to capture him in full gear – guns, stun guns, pepper spray, Kevlar, Maglites – putting him in cuffs and shackles in front of everybody in the café where we captured him. Hal smacked his Maglite against his hand and walked around the kid; Tank stood too close to him and crowded him, calling him swear names in a quiet, deadly voice and threatening him if he stole more traffic signs or posted accident videos on youtube again. I had to struggle not to laugh. We handled him roughly, pushing him around and getting into his personal space and Tank told him that, if we had to capture him again, we would not be as gentle with him a second time around. We scared the crap out of him so badly the kid wet his pants. Twice. Tank said he hadn't had that much fun since he was training new recruits. We all had a good time. You would have had a good time if you had been there as well." Ranger had a full-wattage smile on from ear to ear, and I could feel a rumble in his chest as he laughed.

"I wish I had been there to see it."

"I wish you had been there as well. Just before we picked up the guy, Tank was telling me about his kitties. The dichotomy was hilarious. But it seemed to work. The skip's parents called me yesterday to thank us for our part in making their son walk the straight and narrow path."

"Are we on for stretching tonight? You will soon be back in the gym again. How is your rib feeling, anyway?"

"Better. I just get twinges now, so I think it is healing."

"Good. We will be able to do more in-depth stretches then."

Oh, goody.

"I have to go", said Ranger. "I have a lot of work to get caught up on. And I have to tease Hal and Tank about their part in the takedown."

"Be nice to them. They both were working after hours to help catch the two skips, all for the promise of a free dinner. And then they would not let me pay for dinner."

* * *

I drove to the bonds office to meet up with Lula. Handing in my body receipts, I told Lula and Connie about the takedown I had with Hal and Tank. "I think it worked, however. We scared the kid into flying straight."

"The parents used our office as the bonding agent again", said Connie. "They made the son put up the collateral and to take the money for the fifteen percent out of his own bank account."

"It is nice to see parents who are trying so hard. I will keep in touch with them, to try to help them out as much as possible. If I keep up a presence, I don't think the kid will forget about our threats quite the same." And that, perhaps, is the problem with me. Morelli certainly thinks it is a problem. He says I am not a social worker. But in addition to the meals I have bought my skips, I have been known to drive skips to the courthouse just to make sure they make it to court on the given day. I have sat with skips at the courthouse keeping them company – and calm – while they wait, and I have even babysat the children of skips so their parents can get to court. I do not get paid for this. In fact, if I didn't provide this service I would get more money as I would need to bring them in again on a higher bail. However, money isn't everything and sometimes people need a helping hand to get them out of the trouble they are in. They aren't always hardened criminals. Instead they have had a combination of making poor choices with being unlucky. I think of it as providing good service.

I looked at the file for the victim of the dog attack. "Thank you for sending me the particulars on this file, Lula. I already researched this guy. His name is Nolan Antwerp, and he is a three-time convicted thief, with convictions back to his sealed juvenile records. He was breaking and entering into a house through the dog door and, when he did so, he was attacked by their dog quite viciously. The family was at home at the time and heard the noise. They came downstairs and saw the thief bloodied and mauled on the floor of their kitchen. They called the police right away.

"This is the good part. The thief is claiming personal damages as he was attacked by the victim's dog and he said that such a vicious dog should not be part of society. He is demanding that the dog be put down."

"You have got to be kidding. He wants a poor fuzzy, wuzzy puppy dog to be put down because he got bit while the dog was protecting his property? That's not fair", said Lula.

"Apparently the police agree. The dog has not been ordered to be put down. Are you ready to go get this dog-hater?"

"Yup. Let's go get this loser. Dog-hater indeed. I don't know how you can hate a dog."

"I don't know", I said as I led Lula out to my car. "We have seen some pretty vicious dogs while we have been skip chasing. Remember that horde of humping dogs? It took me a week to wash all that cum out of my hair. It hardened like cement. I didn't like those dogs too much. If they are nice fluffy, friendly dogs like Bob, sure. I like those kinds of dogs. But not the rude or vicious kind. Having said that, I would not blame a dog for protecting its turf. That is one of the benefits of having a dog."

Lula nodded her head in agreement. "I always wanted a dog. I would be a good dog mother", she said. "Except for that picking up the poop thing. I wouldn't want to take the chance that I would get it on my hands. And it smells bad. Do you think that it would be okay if I left the poop?" I shook my head no. I knew from experience that people got a little testy when you don't pick up the poop. We got in the car and Lula cranked up the tunes. Apparently the conversation was over.

* * *

We travelled to the thief's apartment, a run-down hole-in-the-wall on the more respectable end of Stark Street. Getting out of the car, I attached a Club to the steering wheel. I had owned that car for a whole six weeks. I was on a winning streak and didn't want to get the car stolen now.

Getting out of the car, I took my pepper spray and stun gun out of my purse and put them in the front pockets of the hoody that I borrowed from Ranger's closet that morning. I put my cuffs in my back waistband, put my gun at the top of my purse, and slung my purse over my shoulder. "Let's go", I said.

Lula and I climbed the stairs to the third floor, stopped to catch our breath, then found apartment 304. We knocked on the door. When Antwerp opened the door, I put my foot between the door and the doorjamb, and introduced Lula and myself. Antwerp looked at Lula and his eyes bugged out. She thrust her chest forward and I swear I saw him drool. Lula saw it, too, and with a little wiggle she played up her attributes to the max. He turned to me. "If I come with you, does she come with us to drop me off?" he said, his pants tenting uncomfortably.

"Yes, she comes with us as far as the police station."

"I just need to switch off the burner", he said. "I was just making some honey oil, but you have come at a good time and I can leave it for a while."

"Lula will switch off the burner for you", I said, cuffing his wrists behind his back. Lula entered the apartment and made sure that all flammables had been put out and that the windows were all shut and locked. We locked the door on the way out, and escorted him down the stairs, keeping Lula and her swaying backside in front of Antwerp to provide incentive. It was much easier going down the stairs than it was coming up.

We got outside and looked towards the car. The car was still there and there were only two gangbangers trying to get into it. I took out my gun, pointed it at them and yelled "hey!" They ignored me. I yelled "hey" again and, when they looked up, I pointed the gun into the air and shot it. I then yelled out that the shot was a warning shot, and that they would receive the next shot up their ass if they did not get away from my car. The two gangbangers quickly walked away.

I put Antwerp in the car, buckling in his seatbelt. As I finished, I turned around and was startled by Berginni standing right behind me pointing a gun at me. "I have a restraining order against you", I said. "You need to step away." I took the pepper spray out of my pocket and started shaking the can to activate the liquid.

"I want to take you to Mexico. I know you secretly love me, but you cannot say so in front of your boyfriend. I want to take you away so we can explore our love."

"I don't love you. I don't even know you."

"Your lips say you don't love me, but your eyes say you do", he said, taking his gun and hauling back on it. I jumped to the side, but did not jump fast enough. The butt of the gun handle slammed into my head before everything went black.

* * *

I slowly came to, at first registering that I had a bad headache and then next noticing I was laid out face down on the backseat of a car, my purse still on my shoulder and drooping down to the floor, no seatbelt on. Very quietly and stealthily, I reached into my purse and felt for my gun. It had been removed from my purse. I did, however, find my phone. From memory, I felt the speed dial buttons and called Ranger. I put my phone at the top of my purse and, when the Ranger answered, I hit speakerphone. I started to talk. "Where are you taking me?" I asked.

"We are going to Mexico."

"I don't have my passport with me. It is back at my apartment. We need to go back to my apartment so that I can pack to go to Mexico and get my passport. Otherwise we will never make it over the border."

"You don't need clothes for Mexico. I can buy you a couple of bikinis for you to wear when you are there. You would look good in a bikini."

"I still need my passport. Why do you want to take me to Mexico, Guido?" I was trying to keep Guido talking and hopefully from finding out that I had Ranger on the line.

"I want you all to myself. I want you away from your boyfriend so you do not feel pressured to be with him. I want to be able to explore the love we both feel."

"How did you find me?"

"I waited at the bonds office this morning, hoping you would come to work today. I got lucky – you did. I have been waiting at the bonds office for days now, without any luck. But today I got lucky."

"If we are doing this, I will need my passport. Are we flying or are we driving?"

"We are driving. I don't have the money to fly. My mother doesn't give me enough money."

"How will you support me in Mexico? You are taking me away from my job, so I will not be able to earn any money to support us. It will all be up to you."

"I will ask my mother to give me money."

"You aren't supporting me yourself? You have to ask your mother to support us? That isn't very well thought out, is it? Your mother won't always be around."

"No, she knows she better do as I say or I will…" and he made a cutting sound as he swiped his hand across the base of his neck. "Just like you need to do as I say."

"I get it. You will kill me if I don't do as you say."

"Yes. But it won't come to that, because you love me. Just like I love you."

"I can't see, lying down here. Are we almost at my apartment? I need to grab my passport."

"We are almost there."

"Are you coming up with me to wait?" I asked.

"Of course. I need to make sure you don't phone anyone. I know what is best for you and am acting accordingly. I don't need your cop boyfriend finding us before we are on the road to Mexico."

"I won't phone anybody. I just want my passport. And maybe some warm weather clothes. And maybe some toiletries, and some personal supplies. Did you pack food?"

"No."

"Then maybe some food as well. I'm addicted to Tastykakes. Do you think they have Tastykakes in Mexico?"

"I don't know."

"Then we will bring some Tastykakes with us. Maybe some water as well. It is always good to have food and water when you are going on a long trip in case your car breaks down. Whose car is this, anyway?"

"It is mine. It was my mother's, but I commandeered it. She didn't need it the way I needed it."

"What happened to Lula and my skip?" I asked.

"Is Lula the fat chick?" he asked.

"She is the person who was with me on the other side of the car." I envisioned what Lula would do to Berginni if she heard him refer to her as "the fat chick". The thought made me smile.

"She's okay. The only person I tagged was you. Lula can get your skip to the courthouse."

I was hoping Ranger could hear the conversation through my purse, at least enough to pick up that we would be going back to my apartment.

"We're here", said Berginni as he drove into the parking lot of my building. I stealthily tucked my phone back into my purse, still leaving it transmitting.

As soon as the car stopped, I tried the doors on the backseat. They had child locks, however, and I could not open the doors. Berginni got out and, pointing my gun at me, let me get out of the car as well. I got out of the car, purposely stumbling against Berginni as I did so. "Sorry", I said, "I am a bit dizzy after being slammed on the head. Perhaps we can take the elevator?" Berginni threw a hoody over my gun and, still pointing it at me, indicated that I should cross the parking lot. I noticed, as we moved, that Ranger's Porsche Turbo 911 was parked in the lot. I also recognized Morelli's undercover car. I felt better knowing that the cavalry was waiting in my apartment for me.

"My passport is hidden under my bed in my bedroom", I said as I entered the building. We waited for the elevator. "Do you mind not pointing my gun at me?" I asked.

"I need to do this to help us. You do not seem to understand the depth of love that we have for each other. You will, in time. Until you do, I will have to hold you at gunpoint to get you to do what I want, to do what is best for both of us."

We walked down the hall to my place, with me praying the whole time that none of the other residents would come out of their apartments. Getting to the door, I fumbled in my purse for the keys. Once I found them, I unlocked the door and opened it. "I just have to go into the bedroom for a few minutes", I said.

"No doing any funny stuff", said Berginni. "I will follow you", he said.

We walked into the bedroom, me talking the whole time. "Do you have a place already in Mexico for us to stay at?" I asked. "Is it near the ocean or is it inland? What clothes should I pack?" I was hoping that the two of us talking would help Ranger and Morelli identify where we were in the apartment.

"I haven't got a place yet. I was thinking someplace on the beach, in an out-of-the-way town in case your cop boyfriend figures out we have gone to Mexico. I don't want you taken away from me. I want you to have my babies."

I passed through the doorway of my bedroom. Ranger was standing behind the door. I quickly stepped to the side, out of Ranger's way. Berginni stopped at the door of the room.

"You can stop pointing that gun at me now", I said. "I need help lifting the bed. I keep my valuables in a shoe box under the bed and it is wedged in there pretty tight. I need you to lift the bed so I can get the box out."

"How did you get it in there?"

"My cop boyfriend helped me. You are as strong as he is, aren't you?"

"Of course I am." He swaggered over to the bed, and Ranger moved in behind him. Berginni wasn't expecting it. Ranger cuffed Berginni before he even knew what was going on.

Berginni started to struggle. Ranger hauled back and plowed his fist into Berginni's stomach. When Berginni was doubled over, gasping and trying not to throw up, Ranger shoved him into Morelli. "Don't ever go near Stephanie again. Ever. If you do, I won't hit you the next time. I will kill you."

"You okay, Cupcake?" Morelli asked as he took Berginni away from Ranger.

"Yes. Just shaken. Thanks for getting here in time to help."

"Thanks for calling. Lula had already called Ranger and me by the time you called in, but we had no idea where you were going. We were in the process of mobilizing a search team when you called."

"It also helped that you had your tracker on you. It let us trace where you were and how far away you were from your apartment", said Ranger. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. I cuddled into him as Morelli left the apartment. "You're safe", he murmured, and I could feel the tension slowly leave his body. He leaned down to give me a kiss that started as frantic and desperate but ended as soft and sweet. After a few moments, he pulled away. "We need to call Lula and let her know you are okay. And we need to tell Vinnie that he is not allowed to bond Berginni out again."

We went and sat on my couch, Ranger pulling me into his arms as I called Lula. "Hey girlfriend", I said when Lula answered her phone.

"Steph! Are you all right?"

"Yes. Ranger and Morelli saved the day again. But apparently it was all due to your efforts that they even realized there was a problem."

"Glad I could help. Do you think you can come rescue me now? I couldn't hotwire your car with your Club on the wheel, and I don't have your keys. I have had three people proposition me since you left. I have been more successful today than when I was in the business."

"I'll be there in a few minutes. Wait a sec – Ranger's trying to say something." I covered the mouthpiece as Ranger said "I can't take being away from you right now. Let a Rangeman patrol take your skip in. Let the patrol guy meet us at your car and you can hand over the keys then."

"New plan. A Rangeman guy will take the skip in. Ranger and I will meet you and the patrol guy at my car in a few minutes. We are on our way now."

I hung up the phone and Ranger kissed me again, a deep kiss that made me wish I hadn't told Lula we were leaving. Ranger broke away, breathing hard. "We have to go", he said, "and before we go you have to wash the blood off the side of your head."

"What blood?" I asked. I went into the bathroom. Ranger followed, standing in the doorway while I looked. The spot where I had been pistol whipped had a cut that had bled a bit. I got a facecloth and wet it, gingerly washing out the dried blood. I dried it off, rinsed out the washcloth, and hung the cloth up to dry. "All set", I said, turning to Ranger.

"Let's go find Lula", he said. He called in the need for a patrol car to show up at my car, and told the control room to give the patrol car the directions.

I locked my door and put my keys in my purse. Taking my hand, Ranger and I walked down to his car. He held the door for me, shutting it softly after I got in and put on my seatbelt. He got in his side of the car and, as soon as he was able, he captured my hand and kissed the fingers. Then he put my hand on his leg. I could feel his muscles tense and relax as he drove, his hand covering mine when he did not need it to shift, and it somehow felt right.

"You scared me."

"I know. I was pretty scared myself."

"I worry about what could happen when I am not here with you. What would have happened if you hadn't called? What would have happened if I hadn't been here for you to call?"

"I would have called Tank. Or Morelli. You can't take it on yourself to protect me all the time. That's impossible. You aren't Superman. You're Batman. And even Batman isn't infallible."

"I want to protect you from the world and I can't. There are too many dangers in this world. There are dangers to you just because you know me. It scares me that I cannot protect you from them."

"We do all right."

"I know. It has just been a couple of really bad weeks."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yes, but not now. We are almost at your car and I need to be near you for a while longer, to fully accept and believe that you are safe, before I am prepared to talk to you about it. I will, just not yet."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two **

We went back to Ranger's apartment and made fast love, a little frantically, a little desperately, the first time. We finished and I pulled up the duvet. Ranger pushed it down again. "Not done yet", he said and kissed my nose, my forehead, my cheeks, my lips. He kissed the pulse points in my neck, my collarbone, my shoulders, and he worked his way down until…

Oh, boy.

The second time was soft and sweet. The third time was lazy and lethargic. Then, sated, we slept.

* * *

At five forty-five Ranger kissed me awake. "Ella will be here in fifteen minutes. I thought you would like to have a few minutes to wake up before she gets here." I sat up and pushed my hair out of my eyes. "That was incredible", I said. "I really needed that."

"So did I. And the sleep was good, too", he said.

I made a face at him, and he started to laugh.

He got up and got his housecoat, bringing it over to me. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants. Nothing more, and my heartrate sped up again. "Ella has made us a nice dinner, but if you keep looking at me like that, we won't make it out of the bedroom", said Ranger. He pulled my housecoat ties until I was nestled between his legs, and gave me a deep kiss. All I could think was "yum" as I headed back down into bliss-land. Ella came into the apartment, calling out to us as she entered. Ranger broke away and went through to help her, giving me a few minutes to gather my wits about me. Then, when she left, I walked out to find the table set, candles lit, wine breathing, and dinner served. We sat down and took the covers off our plates. Ella had made surf and turf for dinner, serving my two favourite meals in one – shrimp and steak – just like I had ordered when we went out on our one and only date. "I remembered that you ordered your steak medium-rare," said Ranger, "so I went ahead and asked Ella to cook your steak that way. I hope that is all right."

"That's perfect", I said, pleased he had noticed and remembered. We sat down to eat our dinner, Ranger cutting me some garlic bread. I wondered when Ranger would bring up the cheques that I paid to Rangeman for the bodywork and dinner out. I had left the refused cheques and the invoices on the counter that morning, and it looked like they had been moved. I knew the conversation was coming and I was not looking forward to it. I didn't know how I would be able to get across my need for independence.

"When I was in the army, we didn't eat many meals like this. With having a family in the restaurant business, I perhaps missed good food more than most. I vowed that, as soon as I could, I would eat good food again when I got out. This sure beats bark and berries."

I just listened. Ranger opening up about anything in his past was so unusual. I did not want to break the mood by speaking.

"When I was in the Rangers, my specialty was rescue operations. If there was an American citizen or, in the odd case a citizen of another country, that had been taken, it was my job to lead a team in the rescue of that person. My area of specialty is Latin America, although I have also worked in the Middle East. However, because I speak Spanish as my second language, and I have a smattering of Portuguese and French, my area of specialty is Latin America. During my stint with the Rangers I rescued many people. Many of these people I still am in contact with today.

"Tank was another Ranger but worked on a different team. He was captured as part of his work and was tortured. My team was sent in to retrieve him. That is how Tank and I became such good friends. That was my last mission and, shortly after I started Rangeman, Tank also left the army and came to work for me.

"I had been doing well in the army, however, and had made a name for myself. When I left I was picked up by a private security company that consults with the DEA, the CIA, and the military. They work all over the world providing defence operations. Some of these operations are actual jobs to supplement what the military is already doing; others are more in a training capacity. I am a trainer. Providing both curriculum design and delivery, I train people how to provide personal security services. Body guarding, property security and so on. I also train on proper rescue procedures. Eat your dinner – it's getting cold."

I looked down. I hadn't realized that I had stopped eating, I was that engrossed in Ranger's story. I hurriedly cut myself a mouthful of steak and started chewing, my attention turned back to Ranger.

He smiled at me. "Some of the places we work aren't the nicest places. We do a lot of work in the areas the government has targeted its War on Drugs, and there are a lot of drug lords who seek revenge on those who work against them. It is important to me to work against these drug lords in any way I can. They carry out horrible atrocities against people, unspeakable acts of cruelty. I have to do what I can to fight them. However, it is imperative that my involvement is kept a secret. Secrecy is the only way I can protect the ones I love. Only Tank, and now you, know of my involvement.

"I can keep this secret", I said.

"I know you can. I wouldn't be telling you this otherwise. Eat your dinner", he said with a smile.

I looked down. I had forgotten to eat again.

"Family members and loved ones are targeted as a result of our work. Last week, when I got that emergency call, the wife of the head trainer was kidnapped. Even though I had suggested a while ago that all family members wear a tracker, she was not. She downplayed the danger she was in and left her tracker at home when she went for a jog. She was picked up two blocks away from her house. We were lucky. The house where she was being held was identified quickly. It was just over the border in Mexico. We were able to go in and steal her back before she was tortured or assaulted."

"Morelli was on the right track."

"What do you mean?"

I took a bite of garlic shrimp before Ranger reminded me to eat my dinner again. "When the terrorist targeted Rangeman last year, Morelli commented that Rangeman had to have more going on than simple security services to have the facility so well protected and able to withstand a terrorist attack."

"He was right. I have tried to build the Rangeman company and in particular the Rangeman building to be the most secure facility around."

"The truth is much better than Lula's version as to why you went away." When Ranger just looked at me, eyebrow raised, I explained "she said there is a coup happening in Suriname, and she thought you were the one leading it", I said with a smile. Ranger started to laugh. "Me? Lead a coup?" He laughed some more. "No, I am not leading a coup.

"When you were kidnapped today," he said, "it brought back the fear we felt for Lydia this past week. It had been a hard week and I was still feeling a little off-balanced from it when I came home. I had debriefed, but I hadn't settled. I needed significant one-on-one time with you and then you were kidnapped. Everything we had gone through over the past week came back at me, and I was terrified it wasn't your Romeo but instead was one of Lydia's kidnappers, one of the paramilitary groups we fight against. I panicked and was just about to phone my contacts at the DEA, the CIA, and the army when you called in.

"I have been fighting a relationship with you for so long, settling instead for friendship. Now that you aren't going out with Morelli, it feels like I have a chance at having it all. But you have to make sure this is what you want. Because if you want to get together, it will mean a need for increased security for you. It will mean you cannot skip self-defence training and you cannot skip your practice time in the shooting range. It will mean wearing a tracker on you, probably in a watch much like mine, rather than just having one in your purse and car. It will mean you will need to be aware of your surroundings at all times, that you will have to be careful at all times. If you cannot live like this, we should decide this now, before we grow more attached to each other.

"This can be a conversation we can continue to have over the next little while. I am not asking you to decide tonight. But over the next few days you need to decide whether, knowing the restrictions, you are interested in seeing where this relationship will take us."

Ranger cleared the empty plates from the table and headed into the refrigerator, coming back with a parfait glass filled with chocolate mousse and garnished with raspberries and another one of just plain raspberries. He put the mousse in front of me with a flourish, and a smile a mile wide grew across my face as I beheld the dessert.

"Now," said Ranger, "about those cheques…"


End file.
